The suggestion in Pretoria by two Supreme Court judges that it might be time to start imposing deterrent sentences in cases of corruption is wholly warranted.

There is no question that corruption has reached a point, notably at provincial and municipal level, where it is undermining service delivery to the poorest section of society.

Corruption, fraud and maladministration are not unique to South Africa nor to the ANC administration. There is concern in the United States to counter a moral malaise in which shareholders and pensioners have lost billions of dollars. Here in South Africa, the late Nationalist government declined and fell in an odour of corruption and a stagnating economy.

Yet it is plain that corruption now has the potential to sap the lifeblood of our young democracy. It has become a cancer in the body politic. As long ago as 1999, then deputy president Thabo Mbeki opened the National Anti-Corruption Summit and deplored the growth of a system of values which began and ended with the pursuit of material benefit.

The 1999 summit underscored the need to combat a potentially devastating scourge and emphasised a national integrity strategy. Since then there have been some notable successes by the Scorpions and the Special Investigations Unit, which should be left alone to continue their good work.

Mbeki himself has given the lead in his brave refusal to bow to intense pressure to have the corruption charges withdrawn against ex-deputy president Jacob Zuma.

But the imposition of lenient non-custodial sentences on offending members of parliament means that people whose fitness to serve as public representatives is seriously in question have been able to return to parliament as if nothing had happened.

The judicial expressions of concern were prompted by the action of the state prosecutor in the appeal of another MP who sought to have his sentence reduced and suspended. As one of the judges asked, where is the deterrent?

Codes of conduct and awareness campaigns are not enough. Until offenders know they will go to jail, corruption will continue apace.

With acknowledgement to the Cape Times.