South Africa cannot bear the growing burden of corruption, IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Saturday.

"It (corruption) is distorting the moral and economic fabric of our country. Its tentacles are reaching out into every part of our economy and society and threatening to choke off its lifeblood," he said.

Buthelezi, who is on an election campaign trail in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, said in a statement that radical new measures have to be taken to tackle what he called a "crisis".

"Fifteen years into our democracy, the integrity of our whole society is threatened by a growing culture of corruption.

"In 1994, the ANC promised to build a better life for all. But today the question that all South Africans are asking is 'a better life for whom?' as the poor have gotten poorer and the corrupt minority have enriched themselves beyond greed. In government, in business and in the public services, corrupt practices have too often become pervasive, tolerated and flourishing," Buthelezi said.

In order to fight corrupt activities, Buthelezi said his party will establish a whistle blowers charter to "guarantee the jobs of those brave public servants who stand up to corrupt employers".

"And we will encourage the exposure of corrupt practices by rewarding whistle blowers with a percentage of the funds that would otherwise have been lost to the public purse.

"We will set the highest standards of probity and integrity in public life," he said.

Sapa