In the 1800’s, the English statesman Charles Colton said, “Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must increase”. In Africa, this ball of corruption has turned into a wrecking ball, corrupting numerous African governments in the past few decades. Corruption has become increasingly prevalent, with 80% of South African civilians and 75% of Nigerian civilians believing that corruption has been escalating (Veselinovic). Despite the increased movements to stop corruption, systemic issues have made it nearly impossible to stop corruption in governments.
In the 1990’s, native government parties began to use corrupt means to gain power over the white colonialist parties. They did this primarily by seizing control over the economy. For example, in South Africa, the African National Congress attempted to increase support for themselves by giving the natives control of state enterprises (Southall). In 1987, they urged the few native leaders to transform the Railways and Harbour Administration into the corporation TRANSNET which was sold at a discount to natives (Watkins). Native parties are continuing to use the economy as a weapon, as shown by their ties to shady capitalists. A notable example is the Gupta family, a prominent immigrant family, who privately funded Zuma in the 2009 elections as well as employed his children in their corporations (Harding). In return, they have enjoyed access to air force bases for their private planes, as well as other amenities (Harding). Unfortunately, this has set a precedent for other African countries. Increasingly, native political parties have formed connections with capitalists to gain power, money, and support. Across Africa, governments are losing an average of 148 billion dollars a year to corruption, which is devastating the economy and impoverishing the very population they are supposed to protect (Corruption).
In addition, in order to preserve power during elections, old regime leaders use military force and other extreme methods to sway election results. Due to the lack of sufficient protective legislature in place, governments are able to commit heinous actions that violate human rights. A prime example is the Zimbabwe president Mugabe, who is not being indicted solely because of lack of legislature. He conducts violent elections where he threatens or kills protesters and his opposition in order to be re-elected (Mutsaka). This has worked for him so far since he has been in power since 1987. By conducting these elections, he makes it impossible for a new leader to be sworn in. Other countries also follow a similar trend. For example, Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term and cracked down on journalists (HRW). In addition, Nkurunziza froze the bank accounts of his opposers without any reason, a clear human rights violation (HRW). These leaders are ensuring that the cycle of corruption in Africa never stops.
During the late 20th century, the native government parties began to adopt an “any means necessary attitude” and saw corruption as an easy way to gain power over the white-colonialist governments. These native leaders have set the precedent of government corruption, and are refusing to change it. The issues caused by this corruption pertain to us on a fundamental human level. In places like Ethiopia and Burundi, governments are violating citizens’ rights of freedom of expression. The military is allowed to murder civilians without the fear of being subject to the judicial system. Journalists are losing their homes and lives, as shown by recent crackdowns in Burundi (HRW). The economy is being destroyed and people are in poverty. It is truly up to the people of Africa to choose to either let this continue or band together and take action to stop the ball of corruption.
Works Cited
"How Corruption Destroys the Nigerian Economy [opinion]." Africa News Service 9 Sept. 2016. Global Issues in Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2017.
"East Africa: Little Progress, Worsening Repression." Human Rights Watch. HRW, 10 Nov. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
Harding, Andrew. "Guptagate: The Scandal South Africa's Zuma Can't Shake." BBC News. BBC, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
Mutsaka, Farai. "The Fight to Unseat One of Africa's Longest Ruling Dictators Is Heating up."Business Insider. Business Insider, 07 Sept. 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
Newham, Gareth. "Why Is Corruption Getting Worse in South Africa?" Corruption Watch. CorruptionWatch, 18 July 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
Southall, Roger. "How ANC's Path to Corruption Was Set in South Africa's 1994 Transition." The Conversation. The Conversation, 03 Mar. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
Veselinovic, Milena. "Why Corruption Is Holding Africa Back." CNN. Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
Watkins, Thayer. "Economic History of South Africa." Economic History of South Africa. SJSU, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
I think it is really interesting that you chose corruption as your Africa issue. I do agree that corruption in Africa is very hard to stop due to "systemic issues". Are Nigeria and South Africa the most corrupted states in all Africa?
ReplyDeleteThe hook for your essay is very dench, and is a good analogy that alludes to the essay topic. My main takeaway is that corruption derives from power hungry leaders that will do anything to get an edge over another. My followup question would be: How could corruption reach any solvency in the near future?
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really good job of having an informative and engaging tone and connecting to the larger impacts of corruption. My main takeaway is that corruption benefits a few elite but sets a bad precedent for other countries and undermines democracies and republics. Follow up question: what are some possible solutions to corruption?
ReplyDeleteI found your article really interesting. My main takeaway was how little these leaders care for democracy or their nation, and choose to benefit themselves by using government money that should be used to help solve other significant problems in Africa, like the water crisis per say. What protests are being put into place to draw international attention to the corrupt governments?
ReplyDelete