IT IS not always that we can say this, but the government can learn something from the SA Football Association when it comes to showing intention to deal with corruption.

Over the past week we have reported about the shocking incidence of graft in Correctional Services. We have also reported that the chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts Themba Godi has called on President Jacob Zuma to recall former correctional services minister Ngconde Balfour from his ambassadorial posting in Botswana.

But chances of Zuma acting on this call are not promising.

If the government was serious about the call it made about being tough on corruption, it would have long renewed the Special Investigations Unit contract that allows it to investigate Bosasa's alleged dodgy tenders.

Safa has acted swiftly on the allegations by former PSL general manager Andile Ncobo that professional football is "rotten to the core". It has asked Judge Graham Mushwana to include Ncobo's claims among other match-fixing allegations the judge is probing.

And there lies the lesson for government. Instead of just talking about corruption in the public sector, probing the Bosasa deals and the renewal of the ISU contract, an explanation why it is not being renewed would go some way towards making a sceptical public believe that talk of fighting graft is no empty rhetoric.

It will be a sad day for governance if even our notoriously inept national football association shows greater sense of purpose than our government.