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THE Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports every attempt to combat corruption which was cancer in our midst, said Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber.

The Executive Director of the Chamber, Mr Sid Peimer, was at Parliament to accept the petition from the marchers.

“There is now an accumulation of evidence of  bribes and other forms of corruption. This is not a party political matter. Investigators in Germany, Sweden and the UK found evidence against companies in their own countries of a billion rands in bribes in the arms deal.

“We have had evidence of a bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup and this week the US Securities Exchange Commission found details of massive payments to the ANC’s Chancellor House by Hitachi which surely helped to secure contracts to build our new power stations. Hitachi paid $19m to settle out of court and this would not have happened unless the evidence was very strong indeed.”

She said internal investigations had produced equally frightening results. “In 2011 Mr Willie Hofmeyr, head of the Special Investigation Unit, told Parliament that between R25-billion and R30-billion of the state’s annual procurement budget alone was lost to corruption, incompetence and negligence. The situation has not improved since then.  It is not even necessary to mention the Public Protector’s reports to make the case.”

Ms Myburgh said there was now a mountain of evidence of corruption but very little sign of prosecutions. “Corruption on this scale makes the whole economy inefficient, destroys jobs, destroys our credibility and drives away investors. It is time to deal with the criminals,” she said.

Issued by The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry