South Africans are angry about growing corruption and that the politically well-connected seem to be the main beneficiaries of democracy, researchers said on Friday.
"It is a season of grievance," the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation's (IJR) Susan Brown said in Johannesburg.
Brown, the IJR's political programme manager, and IJR director Professor Charles Villa-Vicencio presented the findings of the IJR's 2006 transformation audit.
Brown edited the report, titled "Money and Morality".
'Ministers who year after year have dirty departments should lose their jobs' The audit shows how far South Africa has come in economic transformation and how far it still has to go.
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Brown said there was huge anger among citizens over a perceived lack of delivery and lack of access to a closed elite.
"They (this elite) look perhaps to the next election but never to the next generation," said Brown.
Corruption was identified as a key problem.
"The head of the executive (President Thabo Mbeki) is not holding the executive (the ministers) accountable," said Brown.
"Ministers who year after year have dirty departments should lose their jobs. That's accountability," she said.
She named the home affairs and correctional services departments and the provincial premiers as some of the worst problems.
Villa-Vicencio said citizens' anger was due to the income gap, their exclusion from the elite, and corruption.
The IJR defined corruption broadly, including maladministration.
He suggested that the government should prioritise the key issues of battling crime and corruption, and delivering on education and transport.
"If we get these three things in place, I want to suggest we would be a better place for it," said Villa-Vicencio.
He said the IJR presented the report to the Presidency on Thursday.
It is the third IJR transformation audit. Previous reports were also handed to the government.
"I can say without a shadow of a doubt that they read the report, they study it and come back for clarification," said Villa-Vicencio. - Sapa
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