Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies took a strong line against the impact of corruption on government’s industrial policy when he addressed an interactive business breakfast on the Rural and Township Industrial Economy in Ethekwini yesterday.
“If we have corruption in the awarding of government money to support the programmes, it means somebody who is getting it is not supposed to get it and means the programme itself is weakened.
“Further, if entrepreneurs fail to abide by the law… [they] out-compete those that do and this includes collusion. In fact, collusion is the polite name for corruption," said Davies.
He said over the years they had come across a number of tenders that did not support locally produced products but supported imports.
Tenders of this nature, said Davies, undermined the country’s industrial policy capabilities, as they weakened the policy tool of localisation.
“It is important that we don’t allow corruption to take place. A capable state means we want officials who know and implement the policies for the good of the country. The dti has zero tolerance to corruption. We allow the full might of the law to deal with those who engage in corrupt acts.”
The event was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), together with the Department of Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, eThekwini Municipality and Ithala Development Finance Corporation.
