The Corrupt need the Corruptee

So you approach an individual that from their title should be ‘The’ decision maker or least have major influence within the organisation about the budget for sponsorship. Or any other support for your business. They inform you about spending freezes and major cost cutting that is taking place. Or they just ignore your request. Or that the budget has been committed for the year. Or that they will forward your proposal to the ‘appropriate’ person. And as you can imagine, nothing happens. But you are aware, as corporate South Africa is a really village, where you are usually one or two degrees of separation away from knowing what happens behind the scenes. Who knows who. Who can do what. No matter how stealthy it is done. No need for Carte Blanche or rocket science to work the networks out. So you know that when certain individuals call and ask for the same type of support, in fact much more, they are not forwarded, but the ‘appropriate’ person is informed to make budget available and to make things happen. What does this say about You?

I have come to appreciate that it has Nada to do with me. Everything to do with the Other person. As small businesses, sometimes we beat ourselves up for not always getting a ‘Yes’ to our proposals while we watch other people seemingly having it easy. If you cross your ‘Ts’ & dot your ‘Is’. Your proposals are professional. Your services and products are to the highest standard. That is the best you can do. Private sector is very vocal about the corrupt government. We seldom look at ourselves. Corruption does not require an overt exchange of any kind. Corruption is an improbity or decay in the decision-making process in which a decision-maker consents to deviate or demands deviation from the criterion which should rule his or her decision-making, in exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a reward, while these motives influencing his or her decision-making cannot be part of the justification of the decision. (Petrus van Duyne). Most times, we are banking goodwill, not for the benefit of our companies, but mainly for ourselves as individuals. We want to be in the ‘good books’ of those in Power.

Thus corrupt practices are not solely practiced by government officials and politicians. If they are corrupt, who are the corruptees? Many of us could benefit from doing our own soul-searching at the decisions we make and the motivations thereof. And the private sector should well look at itself in terms of how it is perpetuating tenderpreneurship, failing BBBEE, fronting & bloating egos & superpowers of politicians. When they say jump, we say, “How high?”. Most times they don’t even make the initial approaches. It is business and its advisors that come dangling carrots. No wonder it is more lucrative to be in politics than to be in business. Or at least to have the patronage of one as your Big Brother. Then we complain about conflicts of interests which we are not so innocent in creating. The more influential, the more profitable. Is this the country we really want to have?