A. Conference takes note of the resolutions passed by the Cape Town Combating Corruption Conference in November 2015,

B. Conference acknowledges that generating the political will to tackle the menacing scourge of corruption effectively is vital to the success of anti-corruption initiatives,

C. Sensitising and empowering ordinary citizens to create the ripple effect necessary to conquer corruption is at the core of activism against corruption,

D. It is the responsibility of political parties, the civil service, the media, civil society organisations, trade unions, commerce and industry in Africa to devise programs and strategies that will ensure the fight against corruption is everyone’s business,

E. The role of faith-based organisations is critical to the re-establishment and promotion of sound moral, ethical and spiritual values,

F. Through its investigation and exposure of corruption, the media plays a pivotal role in popularising the struggle against corruption,

G. Traditional leaders throughout Africa who govern with integrity and responsiveness to the interests of those they lead have a vital role to play in conquering corruption,

H. Properly focussed interventions and mechanisms with a multiplicity of strategies at national, regional, continental and worldwide levels are an efficient way of taking on the corrupt,

I. Machinery of state must comply with the internationally recognised criteria for effective corruption busting.

CONFERENCE ACCORDINGLY RESOLVES THAT:

1. National audits of the anti-corruption machinery of state should be encouraged to ensure that the internationally recognised criteria for anti-corruption entities are universally complied with in Africa;

2. Media campaigns and advocacy, designed to create awareness of the internationally recognised criteria for and the need to create compliant machinery of state, need to be organised;

3. Traditional leaders, civil society, the civil service, trade unions and political parties all have an active role to play in campaigning against corruption;

4. The mobilisation of faith-based organisations around the effects that corruption has on the poor and the vulnerable is critical to the success of the struggle against corruption and the elimination of poverty in Africa,

5. Steps must be devised and popularised at country level to secure implementation of the strategies set out in resolutions f, g and h of the Cape Town Conference. Politicians and public servants must be encouraged to champion one or more or all of the said strategies which are:

f. A sanctions system, such as that developed by the World Bank, should be considered for implementation at the level of national jurisdiction in relation to all public procurement.

g. The private sector and civil society organisations should be encouraged to adopt and implement anti-corruption compliance programmes as contemplated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

h. Governments should establish a framework for the open and comprehensive declaration of assets and interests by all political office bearers and public officials

6. The international community of nations must use its capacity to monitor and investigate global financial movements via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) as a means for identifying illegal movements of funds implicated in corrupt activity around the world. This capacity must be used to secure the prosecution of individuals and companies who are involved in corruption. Every effort must be made to recover funds which are the product of corrupt activity and to return these funds to the lawful authorities in their countries of origin.

7. All delegates at conference commit themselves and the organisations they represent to “say no to corruption” and “yes” to integrity.