Corruption in South Africa非洲腐败.doc

Corruption in South Africa南非腐败Nkandla in the wind风起NakandlaWhy the string of corruption scandals at the top is so disquieting高层腐败丑闻的只鳞片爪令人不安Apr 12th 2014 | JOHANNESBURG | From the print editionZuma says hes spotless南非总统Zuma自称清廉奉公“I AM often asked by people from India and Russia, Why do you worry?”, says David Lewis, head of Corruption Watch, a privately funded watchdog based in Johannesburg. Why indeed? South Africa sits in the middle of international rankings of corruption. It is not Sweden but nor is it Zimbabwe. It has a free and impertinent press. Its constitution gave birth to bodies that check and balance the powers of government. And its judges back their freedoms to poke the executive in the eye.腐败监察是一家位于约翰内斯堡的私人检测机构。其领导David Lewis说，“总有人，印度人或者俄国人，问我，你担心什么”。有必要吗？南非在国际腐败榜排名居中，既不是瑞典那样清廉，又不比津巴布韦腐败。有自由又莽撞的新闻界，宪法也设立了检审和平衡政府权力的机构，法官更是支持他们给政府上眼药的自由。Indeed, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been checked-and-balanced recently rather more than usual. The public protector, a body created by the constitution, published a report last month that chastised the president, Jacob Zuma, as partly responsible for the 246m rand ($24m) lavished on his private home in Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal. When the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, sent a text message to 1.5m voters saying the president stole your money, a court upheld its right to do so; the ANC is appealing against the judgment. Another court said Zwelinzima Vavi, a vocal critic of ANC corruption, should be reinstated as boss of the biggest union federation.事实上，执政的南非非洲人国民大会（非国大）在受到了前所未有的监察和平衡。宪法设立的共和保卫者组织上月发布报告，指责总统Jacob Zuma应为挥霍在他位于Nkandla（夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省内）的私宅上的2.46亿兰德（2400万美金）负有部分责任。主要反对党民主联盟向150万投票人发送短信，称总统偷窃你的钱，法庭又捍卫他这么做的全力；非国大对这一论断提起诉讼。另一个法庭称Zwelinzima Vavi应当复职为最大工会联合会的首脑。后者曾直言批评非国大腐败。South Africa has plenty of bodies to be proud of beside its courts. Its treasury is a bastion of rectitude. The revenue service is the envy of richer countries for its ability to harvest tax. The central bank recently raised its main interest rate, despite a weak economy (and a general election next month), to show it is serious about fulfilling its main remit of controlling inflation. The countrys big banks are well regulated and conservative. Its biggest firms are respected multinationals. As long as such institutions stay strong, reckons Mr Lewis, South Africa will not be prey to the sort of endemic corruption seen in Russia, China or India.除了法庭，南非有许多引以为傲的机构。该国的金库是正直构筑的堡垒。税收部门的收税能力令富有国家也钦羡不已。在经济不景气的时候（而且下月即将大选），南非央行近期提升了其主要利率，彰显在完成其主要任务控制通胀方面的严肃态度。南非的大银行监管良好，而且保守。其最大企业是备受推崇的跨国公司。据Lewis估计，只要这种机构设置保持坚挺，南非就不会陷入俄罗斯、中国和印度常见的腐败横行。Yet there is plenty still to fret about. Start with the Nkandla scandal. Mr Zuma did not quite thumb his nose at the public protector but he came mightily close. Her report recommended that Mr Zuma apologise, pay for some of the refurbishments to his home and report to parliament within two weeks. When the deadline day arrived he airily sent a three-page letter to Parliaments Speaker, declaring that the reports findings were at odds with a cabinet investigation, which cleared him of wrongdoing. And he said he would await a third report before giving a further response.然而，还有很多烦恼。首当其冲的是Nkandla丑闻。Zuma并不曾对共和保卫者嗤之以鼻，但也差不多了。后者的报告要求Zuma道歉，为其私宅的翻新支付部分费用，并在两周内向议会报告。截止日期当天Zuma仅向议会发言人提交了轻飘飘的三页信件，声称报告的结论与内阁调查不符，内阁调查洗清了他的嫌疑。他还说，在等到第三份报告前，他不会给出进一步的回应。The stalling is not surprising with elections due on May 7th. But the scandal is corrosive not just because of the sums involved but because of the damage it does to South Africas institutions. It sullies the presidency as well as the president. And it does broader harm. People feel freer to be corrupt if they sense that people at the top are getting away with it, says Mr Lewis. His biggest worry is the weakness of the police and prosecutorial services. If corruption goes unpunished, it will spread. Most South Africans reckon that corruption at all levels is growing apace, especially in contracts for public works, where lines to the ANC seem increasingly necessary.考虑到5月7日的大选，冷处理就在情理之中了。但丑闻的破坏力不仅仅是取决于涉及的金额，也包括其对南非机构设置造成的破坏。它玷污了总统的地位，以及总统本人。上行下效，丑闻还造成了更广范围的破坏。Lewis最大的担心是警察和检察机构的弱势。如果腐败逍遥法外，效仿者将众多。多数南非人认为，所有程度的腐败都在飞快增长，尤其是公共建设的合同中。由此，对非国大的限制愈发势在必行。And it is hard to avoid an impression that the politically connected are somehow immune to prosecution. The main prosecuting authority is appealing against a court judgment that compels it to indict a former head of the polices criminal intelligence for fraud, corruption and murder. Meanwhile an investigation led by a senior judge into misdeeds surrounding a big arms deal in 1999 seems to be going nowhere. Mr Zumas financial adviser was convicted in 2005 for soliciting a bribe on his behalf from a French arms company. Related charges against Mr Zuma were dropped on the eve of his election as president in 2009. The reasons fo