The scandal relating to the arms deal will not go away. Every time government tries to squash the investigation and cover its tracks, the more it rears its ugly head.

As an exercise, reading the successive headlines in the Mail & Guardian for the month of May alone shows that corruption is far more widespread than we think. We read in the media of its occurrence with growing frequency. Prominent political figures, ministers, senior public servants and even the president are being implicated in all kinds of deals.

First, it was Winnie Madikizela- Mandela's conviction on 43 counts of fraud and 25 counts of theft that started the ball rolling for the month. This was followed by the headline, Transnet rocked by R1m bribe. The next edition read, Shadow falls on Lekota, exposing the defence minister for failing to disclose his business interests in various ventures such as BZL Petro- leum and Landzicht Winery.

Next in line Things fall apart Incompetence in Mpumalanga, leads to an even bolder headline inside the newspaper, New financial scandal in Mpumalanga, referring to the gross financial mismanagement of a province characterised by Stalinist leadership.

Mega oil scandal rocks SA, ends the month with an even more disheartening revelation of oil deals between Nigeria and SA, the proceeds of which ended up in the Cayman Islands, instead of SA.

These serial acts of corruption point to a paralysis in the state, and a failure by Parliament and the chapter 9 institutions to hold government accountable to the public. While all the checks and balances are in place, these institutions have failed to oblige government to control itself. The checks and balances themselves have become suspect.

Political appointments to these institutions have compromised the integrity of these agencies and the very constitutional values upon which they have been based. The result is a deeply suspicious public that no longer trusts them. I don't.

Found wanting, the offices of the auditor-general and the public protector cannot be relied upon to do the job, not to mention the national public prosecuting authority.

Set up to strengthen constitutional democracy, the chapter 9 institutions and other relevant state organs are obliged to be independent of government, and subject only to the constitution and the law.

Government has no right to interfere with them and they are obliged to be "impartial and (to) exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice".

These provisions demand we strike a balance at all times between effective government on the one hand, and accountable government on the other hand. Parliament's duty is to oblige government to control itself, but when we have a two-thirds majority in Parliament and a speaker that belongs to the ruling party, our confidence wanes.

The weakening of the standing public accounts committee, and the marginalisation of all the MPs who insisted on being independent of party influences, have further fuelled suspicion that suppression of the truth is more important than accounting to the public how its finances have been prioritised.

It is said, every nation has the government it deserves. South Africans, black South Africans, in particular, don't deserve the government we currently have. Having been denied democracy and basic human rights for almost a century, what we now deserve is a government that will distribute resources more equitably and uphold the promises that ushered it into power justice, transparency, and accountability.

Instead, to quote the late US journalist and critic Henry Mencken, our "government is (increasingly) becoming a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods".

The spoils are distributed to the inner circle and black economic empowerment is nothing but a euphemism for looting state coffers and entrenching loyalists in the structures.

After decades of resistance to oppression, South Africans now deserve a government that puts its citizens first. 

Kadalie is a human rights activist based in Cape Town.

With acknowledgement to Kadalie and the Business Day.