Admin
09 Feb, 2026
The slow collapse: banal corruption and state failure
Statement by Zandile Phiri, Acting Secretary General of the United Democratic Movement Recent reports of queue jumping and the exploitation of desperate citizens at offices of the Department of Home Affairs expose a form of corruption that is often ignored precisely because it appears small, routine, and ordinary. This is not grand corruption involving dramatic scandals or massive sums of money. It is banal corruption: the everyday abuse of a malfunctioning system, where inefficiency becomes profitable and desperation is quietly monetised. When access to identity documents, birth certificates, or civic registration depends on who can pay a small bribe or find a “fixer”, corruption has been normalised. This is not a new phenomenon, but one that has steadily worsened over time, nor is it confined to the Department of Home Affairs alone. If grand corruption is a robbery, banal corruption is termites in the walls. By the time the building collapses, everyone swears they did not notice the damage. Yet it is this slow, continuous erosion that weakens the state long before any spectacular collapse occurs. Banal corruption leaves a trail that South Africans know all too well. It is visible in roads that crumble months after being “rehabilitated”; in water and sanitation projects that consume millions yet never quite reach completion; in wastewater plants that repeatedly fail compliance without consequence. It is seen in clinics without medicine, ambulances without fuel, schools without textbooks, and housing projects that stall while contractors are paid. It is present in municipalities that cannot produce basic records, where audit findings are repeated year after year, and where failure carries no personal cost. At Home Affairs, banal corruption feeds on long queues, broken appointment systems, understaffed offices, weak supervision, and the absence of visible accountability. Informal queue-jumpers and fixers thrive not because the system is complex, but because dysfunction is tolerated and allowed to become a business model. The greatest victims of banal corruption are the poor and vulnerable. Those seeking documents for grants, school registration, employment, or healthcare are exploited precisely because they cannot afford to wait indefinitely or return repeatedly. What should be a basic constitutional right becomes a daily humiliation. Banal corruption can be defeated, but only if government confronts it deliberately and consistently. This requires fixing the conditions that allow it to exist by restoring functional systems, predictable turnaround times, and orderly queues that cannot be manipulated or sold. It requires visible management at frontline offices, clear service standards, and strict supervision of high-risk points of service delivery. Most importantly, it requires real and visible consequences. Officials who enable, ignore, or benefit from petty corruption must face swift disciplinary action. Quiet transfers and internal reshuffles are not accountability. Consequence management must be public, consistent, and unavoidable. Government must also draw a firm line between politics and administration. Political interference in queues, procurement, staffing, or service prioritisation is a major driver of banal corruption and must end. A professional, protected public service is essential if integrity is to be restored. Whistleblowers and ordinary citizens must be protected and empowered. Reporting corruption must be safe, simple, and worthwhile. Silence thrives where people believe nothing will change and retaliation is guaranteed. The UDM cautions that focusing only on headline corruption scandals while ignoring these everyday abuses is a serious error. Banal corruption is the seedbed of larger corruption. It normalises dishonesty, erodes discipline in the public service, and teaches citizens that the state only works for those who can pay. A state does not collapse overnight. It collapses quietly, one compromised queue, one incomplete project, one normalised injustice at a time. Confronting banal corruption is therefore not optional. It is essential to restoring trust, dignity, and the rule of law.
Admin
07 Nov, 2025
UDM BCMM denounces callous evictions and Red Ants brutality in Reeston
Statement by Anele Skoti, United Democratic Movement Councillor and Whip in Buffalo City Metropolitan Council The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) has taken serious exception to the municipality’s ruthless eviction of families from Reeston Phase 2, where residents who believe they are the rightful beneficiaries have now been forced to survive on the roadside for more than three weeks. On 16 October 2025, municipal officials escorted, by the now dreaded Red Ants, carried out a violent operation that left families destitute. Doors were kicked down, residents were allegedly assaulted, and household furniture, beds, clothing, and personal belongings were thrown into trucks and dumped at the municipal landfill site. Many items were broken, stolen, or damaged beyond repair. What was once the furniture of a home was reduced to waste overnight. For twenty-three days, men, women, and children have been living beside the road, exposed to heavy rain and cold winds, sleeping among the remnants of their destroyed possessions. Some continue to search through piles of rubbish to retrieve what little remains of their belongings. This is a scene of humiliation created by the very municipality that claims to serve them. It represents a direct violation of Section 26 of the Constitution and the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act), which prohibit evictions without adequate notice, due process, and provision for alternative accommodation. The destruction of personal property further constitutes malicious damage to property and gross misconduct by those who executed the order. The affected residents argue that they are not illegal occupants. They are beneficiaries of the Reeston Phase 2 housing project, land that was originally fought for under the leadership of the late Councillor Lameki Mlingwana. The houses had been vandalised for years and were reoccupied by local families believe they are the rightful beneficiaries. Instead of regularising and protecting these residents, Buffalo City chose violence and chaos, punishing the poor for reclaiming what is theirs. UDM in BCMM demands accountability and urgent relief 1. Immediate provision of temporary housing for all displaced households, with proper sanitation, water, and security. This must be implemented by the BCMM City Manager, under direct supervision of the Executive Mayor, within seven days. 2. Full replacement or compensation for all personal belongings and furniture destroyed or dumped during the eviction. The BCMM Executive Mayor and the Head of Human Settlements must table a report to Council detailing the losses, the cost of restitution, and the disciplinary action to be taken against officials who authorised or participated in the destruction of property. 3. A transparent investigation into the Reeston Phase 2 housing allocations and the conduct of officials and Red Ants during the eviction. The Municipal Speaker must convene an urgent Council oversight inquiry, assisted by the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements and the Office of the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), to establish who authorised the operation, who benefitted, and whether due process was followed. 4. A public inquiry led by the Eastern Cape COGTA and Human Settlements Departments into the broader failures of Buffalo City’s housing management system and the mismanagement of rightful beneficiary lists. This inquiry must make binding recommendations for disciplinary and criminal proceedings against implicated officials. 5. Urgent intervention by the MEC for Human Settlements, the MEC for COGTA, and the South African Human Rights Commission to ensure lawful, humane treatment of all affected families and compliance with the Constitution and the PIE Act. The UDM in BCMM is considering submitting a formal complaint with video and photographic evidence to the South African Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector, and the Eastern Cape MEC for Human Settlements.
