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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is disturbed by the Sunday Times report (11 March 2012) which alleges that Ms Gugu Mtshali solicited a bribe for government facilitation of a business deal to sell helicopters to Iran.
Without speculating about Ms Mtshali’s guilt or innocence, COSATU wishes to state that such reports vindicate our long held position about relations between business and government leaders.
Again without passing a judgement on the specifics of the allegations of the story, the matter as raised convince us that we must pursue a call COSATU has made that a new policy is urgent and necessary to address the overlap between business and political office as this creates a breeding environment for corruption. This is because such a relationship presents a conflict of interest which is not thwarted by simply declaring business interests. The involvement of government leadership in business compromises the government’s integrity.
COSATU .also reiterates the call that families and relatives of public representatives and trade unions should not do any business in government or unions.
This will avoid a conflict of interest and the temptation to utilise leadership positions in government to directly benefit families and relatives of the leaders concerned.
We consider that this as one of the crucial steps to defeating the scourge of corruption in the public sector.