CAPE TOWN, Oct. 15 — South Africa‘s Public Protector (PPSA) Kholeka Gcaleka on Tuesday urged state institutions to fully implement her office’s remedial actions as the agency marked its 30th anniversary. During a conference themed “30 Years of Strengthening Constitutional Democracy — A Transformative Journey” in Cape Town, Gcaleka said state entities must be held accountable for failing to act on the institution’s recommendations. “We ensure that we enforce as we can, escalate to the highest level, even to Parliament — we do submit to Parliament so that they can hold those departments and state entities accountable when they go before Parliament,” she said. Gcaleka, the current leader of PPSA, said implementation of remedial action had improved from 2 percent in 2022 to 54 percent nearly three years later. She added that while the office remained under-resourced, additional funding over the next three years would help enhance its capacity to combat corruption. “We have also received funds in terms of the asset recovery — funds to investigate corruption-related cases… but it is not sufficient,” she said, noting that recoveries were only a fraction of the money stolen from the fiscus. The conference took place as South Africa continues to grapple with major graft scandals, including the Tembisa Hospital case in which about 2 billion rand (around 108 million U.S. dollars) was allegedly looted through internal fraud networks. At the conference, South African Human Rights Commission Chairperson Chris Nissen warned that corruption is fueling migration across the continent. “Corruption is both a driver and an enabler of migration,” he said, calling for regional cooperation.
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