DA plans state tender ban

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance is to submit a private member's bill to parliament to ban political parties from tendering and contracting with general government.

The bill will regulate the awarding of government tenders to ensure that no business entity in which a political party has an interest can tender with government or a parastatal.

"The need for such legislation is self-evident, although the obvious dangers of conflating party and state have not stopped the ANC from refusing to follow codes of good governance in divesting from companies with whom general government does business." said the chief whip of the party, Ian Davidson, on Friday.

"It is precisely because of this attitude that the ban is necessary."

Davidson said the fact that the ANC has been involved in a R1bn tender with Eskom, through its investment arm Chancellor House and Hitachi, proves that this is by no means an academic exercise - it will have dire consequences for South Africa if the entire government is used to channel funds into the ANC.

"There is a clear conflict of interest when ANC-deployed cadres in government and parastatals award tenders to companies in which the ANC has an interest," Davidson said.

"This leads to situations where government policy is structured around the primary incentive to generate money for the ANC, rather than actual service delivery and good governance.

"As this malpractice becomes entrenched, the crucial distinction between party and state becomes blurred."

He said the party will finalise and present the private member's bill to parliament within the course of the next week.

- I-Net Bridge