South Africa is a republic of bribery

Former EFF member of Parliament, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, said that South Africa is a republic of bribery, which makes it an attractive destination for criminal cartels.

Ndlozi shared his views about South Africa during a discussion on the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX) podcast.

In this interview, he said that corruption broke South Africa and created a country where bribery dominates.

“South Africa is a republic of bribery. That’s what has made it so attractive to international criminal cartels in human trafficking and the drug trade,” he said.

“I know people think of very big international networks, but everybody pays a bribe at least once a day in this country.”

“You want a death certificate, you pay a bribe. For a birth certificate, you pay a bribe. Traffic fines, driver’s licenses, and entry into a specific school all require bribes.”

He said that if these bureaucrats are taking bribes from ordinary citizens, they are doing much worse on South Africa’s borders.

Ndlozi explained that the problems extend beyond the physical border and border posts between countries.

He pointed to South Africa’s ports, where billions of rands’ worth of goods enter and exit every day.

“Most of the time, we don’t even know what is coming in or leaving the country,” he said, which includes large amounts of drugs and illicit goods.

“You see this level of concentration around bribery because we have normalised corruption in South Africa.”

He said corruption starts long before the complex networks of looting mineral resources and criminals using tax avoidance and profit-shifting schemes.

“It starts right at the basic level, like the relationship between me and the clinic, or between me and the police station.”

He cited the Kempton Park Police Station, which he described as dysfunctional due to corruption and bribery.

“People are saying it is one of the most corrupt, but that really describes most police stations across the country,” Ndlozi said.

“Ultimately, black people are the biggest losers in a broken state. We lost more than anyone else because the state was truly the primary heritage of 1994.”

“As a result, we are left in a state of brokenness. This includes broken villages, broken townships, and broken new towns.”