Speeches

Remarks by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi on the occasion of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) Ministerial Meeting, Skukuza, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, Thursday, 30 October 2025

Programme Director
H.E. Inkosi M Buthelezi, Minister for the Public Service and Administration
Premier of Mpumalanga province, Mandla Ndlovu
Ministers that are present
Head of the SIU and G20 ACWG Co-Chair, Adv JL Mothibi
Mr Marcelo Pontes Vianna, G20 ACWG Co-Chair, Brazil
Representatives
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Morning
It gives me great pleasure to join you for this very important anti-corruption working group ministerial meeting.

The fight against corruption needs eternal vigilance and continuous sharpening of anti-corruption tools. In this regard, last week together with 71 other countries, we signed the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime in a ceremony held in Hanoi, Vietnam, thus marking a pivotal and timely milestone in the international community’s efforts to confront this evolving threat.

As the first global treaty on cybercrime, it establishes a comprehensive framework for international cooperation, mutual legal assistance, harmonisation and capacity-building ensuring that all states are better equipped to prevent, investigate, and prosecute cyber offences.

This convention too shall go a long in enabling the fight against corruption and other crimes.
The Kruger Park, located in this province we in South Africa call, Mpumalanga, the province of the rising sun, is a jewel in the crown of South Africa's tourism industry as it is home to elephants, lions, hippos, leopards, the rest of the Big 5 and many other animals.

Kruger National Park's biodiversity is exceptionally high, and this rich biodiversity is supported by diverse ecosystems, ranging from mopane woodlands to lush forests, and is managed by a conservation mission to maintain its natural variety through community involvement and ecosystem simulation.

I have mentioned these details about this park to highlight the fact that, if not combated, corruption may result in the loss of resources and habitats, and the degradation of ecosystems, with direct and indirect effects on the livelihood of local communities.

If corruption is allowed to take root in society a wonderful and biodiverse park like Kruger National Park is not safe.
This is because corruption enables criminal groups to smuggle illicit drugs, weapons, wildlife or even people within countries and across borders while evading detection and bypassing law enforcement.
Corruption not only facilitates transnational organized crime but also allows multinational criminal and organised groups to infiltrate and weaken public administration in many countries.

This undermines governance structures, destabilizes institutions and poses a serious threat to public order and security.
Corruption exacerbates some of the most pressing challenges societies face today. These include but not limited to the following:
• Undermines human rights, justice, and social cohesion.
• Erodes trust in public institutions and democracy.
• Enables environmental degradation and organised crime.
• Hampers economic development, deepening poverty and inequality.

To effectively combat corruption there has to be a shared commitment from multi-stakeholders, including stronger partnerships between the public sector, private sector, civil society, and academia, consistent with domestic laws, of each of our countries. Corruption just like organized crime is more often than not, hidden, secretive and complex, involving multiple actors, networks and jurisdictions.

It is only by encouraging those within society to have information to come forward and reveal the workings of complex networks involved that we will be able to strengthen the fight against corruption. In this regard, the protection of whistleblowers in the fight against corruption is of paramount importance if we want our efforts to be more effective and impactful.

In addition, corruption is a cross-border crime that requires multilateral and multi-country through which it can be combated. Our participation in this gathering is demonstration of the need to increase and strengthen collaboration and the efforts to fight corruption.

We must, by working closely together as countries, increase the efficiency of asset recovery and the use of innovative and flexible methods to recover stolen assets. I believe that if we increase our efforts in ensuring that those who divert public resources for private benefit are deprived of the usage of these resources, it will serve as a huge deterrence against acts of corruption.

States still face many obstacles and challenges in implementing an effective asset recovery framework. Challenges arise due to the need to navigate foreign legal systems and multiple jurisdictions, with countries having different laws and procedures for the tracing, freezing, confiscating, recovery, and return of the proceeds of crime.

Many States, both requesting and requested, have little experience in mutual legal assistance (MLA), and asset recovery in particular, and often face a lack of financial, institutional or operational capacity.

This can lead to difficulties in planning and prioritizing asset recovery steps on the requesting side, and delays or unresponsiveness on the requested side.
Through close collaboration these hurdles can be overcome.

In a world in which technological changes are constantly changing the way we interact with each other, work and transact, anti-corruption has become a continuous process by which different actors work through various means to minimise the impact of corruption in society, politics, and the economy. Through deepfakes, Generative Artificial intelligence has become a powerful tool for malicious impersonation and corruption.

It enables scammers to generate highly convincing text, audio, and video, leading to sophisticated and scalable attacks that are difficult for both individuals and organizations to detect. This means that our anti-corruption strategies also have to incorporate latest technologies including artificial intelligence to improve detection and prevention.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, by working together as countries to combat corruption we have a good change of reducing its impact. The future of children and the survival of parks such as the Kruger National Park depends on what we do today to curb corruption and its devastating impact on its victims. Corruption is not a victimless crime.

Let me once again extend a warm welcome to you to this anti-corruption working group ministerial meeting and I wish you fruitful and successful deliberations.

I thank you.