Race and gender cards used to deflect corruption - William Gumede
Wits University professor William Gumede says the race and gender cards are often played to deflect attention away from corruption in the public and private sectors.
Gumede’s comments come amid allegations of widespread corruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Millions of rands are alleged to have been siphoned from government coffers since the start of the national lockdown in March.
Gumede says there is a trend of officials hiding behind historic injustices to get away with graft.
“These days under the guise of black economic empowerment, we see looting and we’ve seen it at the Zondo commission when people are put on the spot for wrongdoing, they either say ‘well I’m being criticised because I’m a woman’ or sometimes if it’s a black person we’d say ‘well I’m being criticized because I’m black’.”
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Gumede adds the use of race and gender have short-changed those who need the aid from government.
“Even blackness, gender equality, empowerment is now being manipulated and abused to deflect from corruption. The concerns of the poor are actually now being manipulated.”
On Wednesday, the South African Council of Churches hosted a dialogue on the patterns of corruption.
Last month the SACC also joined the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s calls for accountability, transparency and consequences for Covid-19 corruption.
