OPINION: The Crisis of Rotating Corruption | By Dr Che Selane

By Dr Che Selane

Across all spheres of South African government [national, provincial, and local], a dangerous and deeply entrenched culture has taken root. It is a culture that erodes accountability, betrays public trust, and undermines ethical governance.

At its centre is the quiet and systematic recycling of corrupt managers through secondment or redeployment, rather than dismissal or prosecution.

This trend of offering “soft landings” to transgressors under the pretext of administrative reshuffling, is not merely poor governance. It is a structural failure and a betrayal of our democracy, because millions of our citizens depend on honest and effective public service.

It is a loud indictment of a consequence management system that exists largely on paper and fails spectacularly in practice.

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In department after department, and in state-owned entities across the country, this troubling pattern has emerged. Senior officials accused, or even found guilty of financial misconduct, dereliction of duty, or maladministration are not held accountable.

Instead, they are quietly seconded, redeployed, or even promoted to new positions, often with greater responsibility and access to resources. These bureaucratic manoeuvres bury wrongdoing rather than confronting it. They protect the powerful and silence the ethical. In doing so, corruption is institutionalise by eroding the culture of integrity that our public service is meant to embody.

At the heart of this crisis is a deeply flawed consequence management framework that lacks teeth, coherence, and political will. Though policies exist, they are poorly implemented, inconsistently enforced, and riddled with loopholes.

There is no centralised system to track or flag officials under investigation or with records of misconduct. Departments function in silos, creating fertile ground for repeat offenders to evade detection and accountability simply by transferring them across institutions. The disciplinary processes are regularly delayed, manipulated, or abandoned.

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Some officials retire early with full benefits before their hearings are concluded; others negotiate golden handshakes that shield their misconduct from public scrutiny. In many instances, investigations are derailed by political interference or a deliberate failure to act. The result is a public service where wrongdoing is tolerated, transparency is elusive, and the wheels of justice turn far too slowly at all.

This failure of accountability is not abstract because it has material and moral consequences. Corruption diverts billions from services that the people of this country desperately need. It delays infrastructure, disrupts schooling, cripple’s healthcare, and bankrupts municipalities.

But beyond the financial toll, there is a spiritual and civic collapse. Citizens see their country bleeding from wounds inflicted by insiders who are never held accountable. They witness the same individuals, implicated in mismanagement, resurface in new roles with little resistance or consequence.

This undermines public confidence in democratic institutions and deepens disillusionment with the state. In the absence of consequence, South Africa is not a developmental state, it becomes a syndicate dressed as government.

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What South Africa needs now is not more rhetoric, but bold, systemic, and enforceable reforms. To break this toxic cycle, is the need to review and overhaul the consequence management policy. This must be done to establish non-negotiable penalties for various categories of misconduct, from immediate suspension to permanent disqualification from public service.

Despite these, the government must create a centralised digital database of all officials under investigation or sanctioned for misconduct. This must be compulsory to consult before any secondment, redeployment, or appointment. All disciplinary cases must be resolved within a set timeframe (e.g., 90 days). Delays should automatically trigger escalation to oversight authorities such as the Public Service Commission or National Treasury.

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Those who are in parliament and provincial legislatures must demand quarterly consequence management reports and hold accounting officers personally liable for inaction. Furthermore, the legal protections and incentives for those who expose corruption must be strengthen. A democracy that punishes truth-tellers is on a path to ruin.

The department and every state entities must publicly disclose the outcomes of misconduct cases. Citizens have a right to know who is held accountable in their name. This is not merely a governance challenge, it is a national moral reckoning. If South Africa is to honour the values of its Constitution and the legacy of its liberation, it must stop shielding the corrupt. Consequence management cannot be symbolic. It must be visible, reliable, and non-negotiable.

Let the message echo in every office of power that, if you steal from the people, you will not be recycled. You will be removed, prosecuted, and held to account. The future of our country and the lives of generations to come depend on an ethical, accountable, and responsive government. The time for half-measures has long passed. The time for consequence is now.

*Dr Che Selane is a legal scholar and public servant with expertise in governance, ethics, and legislative oversight. He writes in his personal capacity.