wfn.org | SOUTH AFRICA: PRIMATE CALLS FOR AN END TO CORRUPTION

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

Title; SOUTH AFRICA: PRIMATE CALLS FOR AN END TO CORRUPTION
June 13, 1997 
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.6.2.6]

SOUTH AFRICA: PRIMATE CALLS FOR AN END TO CORRUPTION

(ENI/CPSA) Corruption in South African society is subverting and
bedevilling the work of honest, caring policemen and women, the Anglican
Primate and Archbishop of Cape Town, The Most Revd. Njongonkulu
Ndungane, said on 8 June. if we allow prisoners to be released, only to
commit a crime again and be returned to prison."

The early release of prisoners who have immediately re-offended has
prompted outrage in South Africa on several occasions  in recent years.

The Archbishop committed the Church, through its congregations and other
organisations, to offer its services for the moral reconstruction of
society "based on the sanctity of human life, respect for the other
person and to inculcate a spirit of tolerance".

He also offered the Church's services to the South African Police
Service (SAPS) and the Department of Correctional Services, which
manages the country's  prisons. "If they are keen for assistance in the
field of team building, conflict resolution and pastoral care, then I
will use my influence to persuade our partner Churches to ask all our
chaplains to assist in this task."

He called on all South Africans to show greater respect for the police,
and to work for reconciliation and peace, and the kingdom of God.

Speaking at a meeting in Cape Town organised by the Western Cape
Provincial Council of Churches, on the subject of crime and violence,
Archbishop Ndungane said that the country's criminal justice system,
including the correctional services system, was crying out for reform.

"It is the corruption in the police service, the organs of state, the
business world. It is the graft we see in society  that makes us shake
our heads in disbelief that seemingly good people will act in such a
manner - that they will abuse the trust of stewardship that has been
placed in their hands.  It is a corruption that cannot be tolerated,"
the Archbishop said.

Archbishop Ndungane also called for a tightening of  management of the
security forces so that bail conditions were adhered to and prisoners
were not released early due to administrative bungles.

"We do not fulfil our civic duty" 

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