Cosatu wants ministers to detail plans to ensure state capture rooted out

Cosatu has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s steps to deal with state capture, saying that ministers now need to advise on the specific steps their departments will be taking in the aftermath of widespread theft.

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday night on the government’s plan to implement certain recommendations.

Cosatu said that it noted the progress government had made to restore the revenue service and expects the same strategic efforts to be applied to other state-owned enterprises.

The federation said that it expected this week’s medium-term budget statement to show how these efforts by the state would be funded.

“What we expect is for the institutions to give us a sense of how this is going to be done and how it is going to be funded because this is important. Many people who are prepared to be constructive partners in the fight against corruption are scared because of what has happened to whistleblowers before,” said Cosatu’s Sizwe Pamla.

But the SACP’s Alex Mashilo disagreed with Cosatu.

“Because no amount of regulatory changes will stop the corruption, most of the corruption occurs in the tendering phase of the state. They must be in-sourcing and the president did not talk to the importance of sourcing the functions of the state building capacity so the state can serve the people directly.”