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Airing government corruption is a healing process, even if it means that some leaders will end up in jail, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said yesterday.
“It’s like one of those cases where you are bringing out your dirty linen, but we don’t mind it because we don’t want this dirty linen to live within us,” she said. “If it comes out, at least we heal. If any of us has to go to jail, fine, let’s go there.”
Commissions under way include the inquiry into state capture, which is being led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, and the inquiry into the National Prosecuting Authority, led by Justice Yvonne Mokgoro.
Mbete was addressing an audience of African diplomats, officials, academics and school pupils at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, where the Africa Governance Report, which was produced by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), was launched.
Mbete said the kind of self-assessment done by the APRM, through which African states assess the governance and development in fellow states on the continent, was a form of healing: “It allows our citizens to express how they think their lives can be improved. I support healing.”
Mbete also criticised governments for not allowing elected representatives to national legislatures to “feel free to play their roles independently and honestly”.
