The DA calls upon incoming Absa chief executive officer, Maria Ramos, and Absa chairwoman, Gill Marcus, to explain why they attended a meeting of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) on Friday.

Furthermore, they must unequivocally repudiate the statement by ANC Secretary-General, Gwede Mantashe - made in relation to them - that "disciplined cadres from the ANC...give information to the ANC when they are moving" (see report). If they fail to account for their presence at the NEC meeting, or distance themselves from Mantashe's comments, this will raise serious questions about the revolving door between the ANC in government and the ANC in business. And it will cast a cloud of suspicion over the legality of all contracts and tenders awarded to Absa by the government.

According to Mantashe, Ramos (who last week announced her resignation from Transnet) attended the meeting along with Absa chairwoman Gill Marcus in order to keep relations between the ANC and the banking group "warm". However, there is no good reason why the ruling party should enjoy a "warm" relationship with a private institution which bids for government tenders and contracts. It creates the impression that the ANC might be unfairly biased towards Absa.

Even though she may be a member of the ANC, it is dangerous to describe Ramos as a "disciplined cadre" and then imply that - having quit her post at a state-owned enterprise - she is somehow accountable to the ANC for her career move. This suggests that Ramos is expected to do the ANC's bidding at Absa.

The ANC has already eroded the boundary between party and state. It now seems determined to blur the distinction between party, state and business. The ANC should not have invited Ramos and Marcus to attend its NEC meeting in the first place. Having received the invitation, they should have declined it.

Ramos and Marcus must now give a full account of their actions and renounce Mantashe's statements.

Statement issued by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, November 24 2008