Capacitating the corruption busters

We have in the past highlighted how inept civil society has become in terms of generating public discussion and advocacy around issues of crucial importance, and also when it comes to tackling the evil of corruption in the private and public sectors. It is sad that so many civil society organisations are now rendered dormant and unable to discharge their mandate and agendas effectively, because of a lack of funding. By their very nature, civil society and the media play a crucial role in any democracy, including monitoring the conduct of government officials and fighting social injustice. An effective media and civil society also influence government policies in favour of poor and marginalised communities. Civil society can therefore not sit idle and allow corruption and other forms of social injustice to manifest itself in the country. A week hardly passes without reports of corruption in government and state-owned enterprises. Glaring cases of corruption have disappeared into thin air, with well-connected politicians and officials getting away scot-free in the process. What is needed is an organised civil society that is capable of influencing the process of democratisation and keeping it on track. It is not only civil society organisations that have been rendered useless, but the Office of the Ombudsman has also been described as toothless. As an independent state institution, this office has been given extensive powers to investigate complaints of maladministration and guide the strengthening of constitutional democracy in the country. It was therefore shocking to read that government blocked an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman after it tried to probe in January whether it was true that well-to-do or politically connected individuals, including Vicki Erenstein Ya Toivo, had been lined up to benefit from resettlement land. This matter ended there and the chance of seeking recourse in a court of law is disappointingly very slim, as the Ombudsman admitted they don't have the necessary financial resources. This begs the question: Why do we have institutions of this nature, if we don't fully capacitate them to implement their mandate?