SACP STATEMENT ON THE CORRUPTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

The SACP notes the plea bargain settlement reached between the Competition Commission and 15 construction companies in relation to the corrupt activities of the said companies. The SACP regards the activities of the companies as nothing else but corruption, regardless of it being referred to as collusion. Theft from the public purse is referred to as corruption when it is public sector employees and politicians at fault, but called in nice names when the big capitalists steal from the people.

Given the operating profits of the companies, the SACP regards the sanction as a slap in the wrist for these thieves. Price fixing and collusion should be made a criminal offence and those found guilty of such activities must rot in jail.

The conduct of these construction companies, which only came forward to confess and co-operate with the fast tracked process in order to avoid harsher measures, signals the rot that lies in the capitalist system. If it is not the banks and insurance companies milking our people's money, it is the private hospitals or the mobile phone providers. These reinforce the need for South Africans to unite in building a society based on a different set of values, wherein human needs and not profits are the priority.

The SACP calls for urgent measures to be undertaken to criminalise these heinous acts of the private sector. We further call on harsher penalties to be imposed on those who have already made a confession and for those who are refusing to co-operate with the process to be dealt with accordingly. We must send a message to all and sundry that such acts will not be tolerated.

Statement issued by the SACP, June 25 2013

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