Bribes have always been part and parcel of business
As we are still basking in the glory of recently being crowned the Southern African Champions in football, not all is well in the football fraternity around the globe as a number of cases of bribery have rocked the scene.
It seems bribery should now be put down as a business transaction because nowadays it seems a lot of people are living off it, generating a lot of riches. Bribery has somehow manifested itself into a business practice were one can either take it or leave it depending on one’s own morality. But in general, it seems to be rather pervasive, and even accepted. The question is do we need bribery in our society?
These past two weeks, a major hullabaloo has erupted in the football fraternity following revelations that just about every major decision in world football over the past 25 years is now under suspicion due to bribes. To make the matter worse was the resignation of the world football governing body president, Sepp Blatter just three days after winning his re-election.
One would really find it a very strange move by Blatter. It also leaves room to question whether he was also part and parcel of the allegations of bribery in the football circles. Did he benefit from bribes himself, or did he only cast a blind eye on such practices by his underlings?
FIFA officials who had worked under Blatter’s rule, the likes of Chuck Blazer, have admitted to taking bribes in exchange for awarding the 1998 World Cup to France and the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.
Shocking hey? Now it seems our next door neighbours did not qualify to host the prestigious tournament in 2010 as they are being accused of graft, as their bid to host the 2010 World Cup is under suspicion over a disputed US$10 million payment.
Meanwhile it has not been established clearly if SA actually won it through the back door. But again can you blame the country, as they enjoyed more tourism traffic during this period, which means more revenue for the country.
In a journal of Business Ethics it said that over the last 50 years, bribery has become a key facet of corruption and has accompanied the large growth in international trade and investment. With statements like that, must one condone or judge South Africa’s action in their quest to do business. Do not get me wrong, bribery is bad but again it has been going on for a longer period than you and I can even imagine and it seems to be making the world go round.
The bad part about bribery in sport is that it kills the sport. I suspect it will have an impact on spectators as it is never quite certain whether a captain actually “threw” a match or not. Given the fact that this usually only happens upon instigation by bookmakers, then it must be asked which is the biggest sin, the team throwing a match or FIFA, throwing a whole world cup.
Imagine if our own country starts throwing matches, the Cosafa cup will be nothing but just a fallacy, Frankie Fredricks would have not made it onto the podium and ‘Hitman’ will not have traded leather with the best. But again with all the shady deals occurring in the different industries from health to construction tenders and the fishing industry, who says bribery is not rife in the country.
Its just a matter of being caught red handed, that is if the culprit does not bribe his way out again.
While some people in the country are crying and saying money can not buy you life, some are saying money can buy you life plus a Bentley GTI to top it off.
