ANCYL by Corruption in the construction industry The ANCYL is appalled at the report of 15 major South African construction companies who have been found guilty of collusion by the Competition Commission. It was reported today that the companies will collectively have to pay a fine of over R1.4 billion for colluding in bids for the building of stadiums for the 2010 soccer world cup and other state related projects. This sort of act by these companies resulted in various government institutions been over charged for construction projects. The consequence of this clear corrupt act is that our government has been robbed of much needed resources which could have been deployed for service delivery. The ANCYL is calling on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to institute criminal charges against the directors and employees of these companies who were involved in this corrupt act. In South Africa corruption has been projected as a black man’s sin and often only involving government. This is classical evidence that corruption knows no boundaries and is very much alive in the private sector as well. The fact that this has been reported as collusive behaviour and not corruption is worrying. This means that the private sector and captains of industry will forever remain untouchable for as long as they can plead guilty at the competitions tribunal with the view that all that would happen is that they will be subjected to a fine. Until somebody goes to jail these companies will continue to be involved in corrupt activities under the guise of uncompetitive behaviour. This judgement by the competition commission is a serious indictment against the South African private sector, especially because some of the companies implicated are listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. There also seems to be a contradiction in the law. The question that must be answered is why is this mater treated according to the provisions of the Competition Commission and not according to the provisions of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PCCAA)? The provision of the Competition Commission should be reviewed against the requirements of the PCCAA; otherwise corruption will permanently be defined as an act that does not affect big business. The Justice Department is called upon to make this urgent review in order to safeguard the principles of the law, whereby corruption should always be deemed a criminal act whether it occurs in the private sector orthe public sector. The ANCYL is also calling upon the media, which is always intent on exposing public servants who are corrupt, to expose the individuals and companies that have been involved in these unethical conduct of corruption with similar vigour. Current reporting patterns on this matter suggest otherwise. Dr Bandile Masuku ANCYL National Spokesperson 0715744513 Twitter: @bandilemasuku @ancylhq
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 07:54:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015