Hotline to combat corruption

Johannesburg: Welcome to South Africa's anti-corruption hotline. If you would like to report an act of corruption by a South African government official, press 1. If you would like a piece of the action, press 2.

OK, so that last line is a joke.

But the launching of an anti-corruption hotline, run out of the very offices of President Jacob Zuma himself, is perhaps the best sign that Zuma is taking the issue of corruption, and the growing public anger over poor delivery of services by government agencies, seriously. And the incredible volume of calls - 7,261 in the first three hours of the first day, Monday, and 12,000 on the following day, according to the South Africa Press Association - is an indication that corruption and good governance are not laughing matters, at least to South Africa's citizens.

"The biggest obstacle for effective government in South Africa is the substantial gap between government and citizens," says Steven Friedman, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, an initiative of Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg. People have said this is simply for public relations, he adds.

"There's nothing wrong with a PR gesture, with government trying to see what citizens feel. But if the government doesn't act on what the citizens tell them, then people will get cynical. It could cause problems for the government."

Already there have been protests in more than a dozen townships across the country over the past year, with citizens taking to the streets, shutting down markets, and blocking traffic in protest over government failure to fulfil promises of delivering basic services, such as running water, electricity, and toilets.

Last spring, public anger over the government's inability to control illegal immigration spilled over into a month of xenophobic riots that killed 60 people and rendered tens of thousands of immigrants homeless.

Zuma made it clear that this hotline is important to him on its first day, when he manned the phones himself and took a few calls. The first was from a woman who had been trying for years to access the pension for her dead husband, but was repeatedly sent home by unfriendly civil servants. The second was from a man south of Johannesburg, complaining of sewage leaks. Both were surprised they were speaking with Zuma.

Does this indicate towards the South African government's seriousness in tackling corruption? Or would this just prove to be lip-service? Can such a system be adopted by other countries too?