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Another day, another parastatal on the rocks. The Congress of the People notes the sacking of Hamilton Thomo from his position as CEO of Armscor. The most worrying aspect of this is his refusal to go quietly.

Hamilton Thomo, in his position as CEO of Armscor, is tasked with the responsibility of acquiring arms for the state. The recent controversial Airbus A-400 deal, in which the cost escalated from R17 Billion to R37 Billion, was the latest in a long line of questionable episodes with Thomo at the helm of the parastatal.

Despite Armscor struggling, with one report stating that despite government propping it up to the tune of nearly R479 Million, Mr Thomo had presided over the shrinking of the parastatals surplus from R44 Million to R38 Million for the 2007 / 2008 financial year.

He also faced a disciplinary hearing for making offensive remarks at an employee. All of this comes hot on the heels of Mr Thomo's reported 89% increase in his salary and benefits.

While many systems in our parastatals are in need of reassessment on a case by case basis, the role of government is to support the boards they put in place. If the board makes a decision to fire an ineffective CEO, government must support that decision.

COPE calls on the people who purport to be our "captains of industry" to stop behaving like children who've had their candy taken away from them, and we call on this to be resolved with as little blood spilt on the boardroom floor as possible.