There is nothing wrong or malign about lobbying, provided it is not accompanied by inducements to decision-makers to make particular decisions. This was the word from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP and chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Administration Jan De Villiers.

De Villiers, who is also the DA’s national spokesperson, was briefing the media this week.

He was reacting to the recent wave of controversy around the actions of former DA leader Tony Leon’s consultancy Resolve Communications.

Responding to a question about whether his committee would take action to prevent politicians and civil servants from malign influence, De Villiers reminded the questioner that his committee and the department it oversees do not deal with politicians.

He added that both politicians and officials inevitably engage with businesspeople over policy and laws that affect them.

He said that lobbying and engagements between politicians and businesspeople (or any other interest group) was not unusual: “It is something that is part of politics.”

“I think the question is always: was anything unlawful done or not, and whose responsibility is it to look into that?”

He added: “So, lobbying when it’s done just as meetings and just trying to put an opinion on the table – nothing unlawful about that and nothing to investigate there. But when money is involved, and, specifically in my committee’s case, when public servants receive any form of financial contribution or are materially enriched to influence government processes, well, that’s basically corruption.”

De Villiers said that lifestyle audits for public servants were a prime means to counter corruption.

As The Common Sense has previously argued, lobbying is a normal and essential part of democratic engagement, acting as an avenue to explain concerns and to present policy alternatives to politicians.