SACP STATEMENT ON THE GUIDELINESS ANNOUNCED BY TREASURY

The SACP has noted the release by Treasury of the guidelines to improve transparency , openness and accountability on the issuing of tenders by government. The SACP regards this announcement as a victory for our anti-corruption campaign we launched in memory of Chris Hani last year in April.

One of the dangers facing our democratic dispensation is corruption, rent seeking behaviour, allowing the political elite to use their position of privilege to hijack democracy for their narrow ends and those in the private sector who have made it their mission to buy political and economic favours from those who occupy political office. The SACP applauds the measures announced as an important step towards curbing this kind of self serving conduct. Our assumption of political power must be about servicing our people and not a self enrichment programme.

The SACP will continue to mobilise society to rally around the state in order to strengthen its capacity to act decisively against corruption. Part of our mobilisation will include making sure that we completely redirect the state from a neo-liberal mentality of packing each developmental project into a tender. Government must be in the forefront of mobilising people and empowering them to lead their own development as opposed to focussing on empowering few people who happen to be politically connected. The SACP will still campaign that communities are allowed space to make inputs and lodge objections in the tender allocation process.

As part and parcel of fighting corruption we must be cautious not to unnecessarily centralise power in a Treasury that has already shown signs of intransigency and worshipping a discredited neo-liberal economic paradigm. These regulations should not take us back to the days were Treasury was the alpha and omega of government work and in most instances acting as a stumbling block against development.

The SACP is quite satisfied that its campaign continue to inform action on the side of government. The task going forward is to make sure that these advances are consolidated and deepened.

Statement issued by the SACP, June 5 2011

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