Using the Law to Combat Public Procurement Corruption in South Africa: Lessons from Hong Kong

Abstract

Since South Africa’s political transition in 1994, corruption has been a major feature of the country’s politics. However, the complexity of post-apartheid South African politics has sometimes prevented allegations and suspicions of corruption from being adequately dealt with by the law. This article examines the legal framework used to combat public procurement corruption in South Africa. Using a comparative approach, the article also examines the legal framework of Hong Kong – with a view to identifying lessons that South Africa can learn therefrom. Such lessons include but are not limited to Hong Kong’s specific laws dedicated to public procurement, its particular legislative and institutional features, its commendable constitutional commitment to eradicating corruption, and the fact that Hong Kong’s rules pertaining to procurement processes are more consistent and are not hidden in several legislative prescripts. South Africa may also do well to learn from the successes of Hong Kong’s iconic anti-corruption agency, the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) – in attempting to model its own anti-corruption agency.