Johannesburg - The government will not tolerate abuse of public funds by the private sector and is taking action against private businesses that commit corruption or fraud and fail to provide services, President Jacob Zuma has warned.
He said the government would not tolerate abuse of public funds or the state’s procurement system by private companies that provided services to the state. Zuma also called for more suitably qualified people to take up positions in the government.
Sunday’s City Press, however, reported that one of the reasons Zuma believed criminal charges against him relating to the arms deal should be dropped was because corruption was only a crime in a “Western paradigm”.
Representations by Zuma’s lawyers in 2009 to the National Prosecuting Authority stated that “Western paradigm brands this criminal”.
“This”, was probably a reference to the types of loans that Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, “innocently” gave to Zuma. The lawyers further argued that even if it was a crime, there were “no victims”.
City Press said the prosecuting authority responded: “The law prescribes that it is criminal. Until the law is amended to provide that institutional cronyism is not criminal, the ‘Western paradigm’ will have to be accepted.”
Writing in the ANC’s latest weekly newsletter, Zuma contradicted what his lawyers said on his corruption charges. He said the focus would now be on “going back to basics” in the public service.
This follows the recent local government summit which was attended by 1 650 delegates, comprising senior officials in local government.
“In addition, we are taking action against private sector service providers who commit corruption or fraud or who fail to deliver the services stipulated in service level agreements and contracts. We will not tolerate this abuse of public funds or of government’s procurement from the private sector,” said Zuma.
When it came to service delivery, “the government’s responsibilities are clear, and so are the rights of citizens”.
“The summit was held at a time when the government is taking strong action to ensure that officials are in positions or jobs for which they are qualified and for which they have the necessary passion,” said Zuma.
The summit gave all South Africans a platform “to talk straight and plan clearly to improve basic services for all communities”.
However, Zuma spoke against violent service protests by frustrated communities.
“These basics involve discussing grievances and frustrations, rather than resorting to unlawful or violent actions as a start and forcing others to the negotiation table.
“As citizens, we have every right to hold public officials to account, but we should also hold ourselves to account for breaking the law or breaking the unwritten rules and behaviours of our society. We may raise our fists in anger from time to time, but it is also much better to extend a helping hand. We can disagree with one another, without allowing differences of opinion to divide us as a people,” he wrote.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan said last week that out of 278 chief financial officers in all municipalities, 170 of them were not qualified.
Gordhan said it was not right that the R320 billion budget of municipalities was handled by people with no qualifications.
The Star