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CORRUPTION
The right to development is also a human right in terms of the international discourse on human rights. It is not part of the Namibian Bill of Rights, possibly because of its place in the classification of human rights in terms of the Generation of Rights. It is the so called Third Generation Rights. There are many factors that may affect the right to development in Namibia. If officials who are tasked to assist in the administration of the country resort to benefit themselves, we will sacrifice the right to development. It is because of this reality that the Ombudsman has a Constitutional duty to vigorously investigate allegations of corruption. Corruption may take various forms and involves abuse of State property, self-enrichment, nepotism, theft, conflict of interest, etc. The Ombudsman normally acts upon a complaint from a member of the public, but the Ombudsman Act provides under Article 3(2) that a 'reasonable believe' by the Ombudsman will be deemed to be a complaint. This means that in most cases were issues of corruption or abuse of public funds or property is concerned the Ombudsman can act out of own motion. The Ombudsman has extensive powers to seize documents as part of its investigations. Having done a corruption investigation the Ombudsman can provide remedies provided for in Act no. 7 of 1990, which will include reporting to the Auditor-General as well as the Prosecutor-General for action.
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