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"The ongoing exposés of Communications minister Gen Nyanda's controversial business relationships and alleged insider deals with government and parastatals can no longer be ignored," says Juli Kilian, COPE MP serving in the Parliamentary Communication Committee.

"The collective conscience of South Africans has been numbed by a monotonous flow of exposés on the abuse of powerful connections for personal gain that hardly make the daily headlines anymore, "Kilian said.

"However, when a member of cabinet allows his personal commercial and political interests to cloud his judgment on important decisions that affect the entire nation, it cannot be ignored or swept under the carpet. The cancerous worms of corruption and insider trading in high places must be exposed once and for all.

With yet another analysis of Gen Nyanda's company's controversial contracts with government, published in the Mail & Guardian last week, the time has come for Minister Barbara Hogan, the Minister of Public Enterprises, to launch a full fledged investigation into the procedures and modus operandi that enable senior politicians to enrich themselves through nepotistic tender awards.

COPE will therefore appeal to Min Barbara Hogan, the Minster of Public Enterprises and her cabinet colleague, Mr. Sbu Ndebele, the Minister of Transport, to urgently investigate the contracts between government and the security company of the Communication Minister.

Gen Nyanda's case should top the list. His apparent irrational public attack on the Transnet Board in an attempt to save his benefactor Mr. Gama's top job at Transnet has been positively linked to an extremely lucrative contract, which was also inexplicably extended beyond the contract period.

The controversial appointment of one of Nyanda's old cronies as the new GCEO of the beleaguered SABC, while the latter left the broadcasting operation under a cloud, further highlights the Communications Minister's reckless lack of commitment to clean government and points to a weak understanding of his responsibilities as cabinet minister.

"Anyone who takes seriously Nyanda's reported excuse that he has declared his interests to parliament and was not involved in the day to day running of the companies, must also believe in the tooth fairy", says Kilian . "It should go without saying that a former chief of the army and now cabinet minister should not be moonlighting in the boardrooms off private companies.

"The public has a right to know what cash and benefits are flowing his way and why any private company would allow an innocent outsider to share in its profits, unless such an individual has political clout and connections to influence the channeling of public resources to their coffers."

COPE will expect President Zuma to give Ministers Hogan and Ndebele moral and political support to investigate and expose the Communications Minister's business transactions with government, failing which it will be clear that the President pays lip service to eradicating fraud and corruption in the public sector.