Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Microlenders are driving the wage demands of miners in Marikana, in the North West, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said on Thursday.
"In that small community... there were 13 micro lenders operating... many of the workers didn't see up to about 40% of their income... ," Manuel told a business and transparency conference in Johannesburg.
"... People had garnishments (garnishee orders) on their salaries... ," he said.
One micro lender had been charging 30% interest a month.
Manuel said microlenders were a problem in fighting corruption, as people has unsecured lending.
The amount of borrowing needed to be reduced.
Thirty-four people were shot dead by police near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on August 16 last year. Ten others, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) brought a number of business experts together at the conference to discuss the role and relevance of transparency in the business sector.
They would discuss a number of issues, which would be developed into a report and shared with business representatives and the government.
This was to craft a national action plan to implement the recommended United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights, which were recently released as a guide to states and businesses on their roles and responsibilities on human rights issues.
A recently-released research report by Global Financial Integrity found that South Africa had suffered an illegal outflow of more than R185bn because of corruption in the public and private sectors since 1994.
In 2011, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) reported to Parliament that between R25bn and R30bn of the government’s annual procurement budget alone had been lost to corruption.
The Competition Commission is currently investigating more than R29bn worth of projects in the construction sector alone for bid-rigging abuse of public tenders by 21 companies.
The cost of doing business in South Africa had risen exponentially due to the adverse effects of corruption.
In addressing these issues, the SAHRC would focus on business and corporate transparency.
The government, business and civil society were to share experiences and ideas at the conference and talk about the importance of transparency for economic development.
They would also discuss managing risks to attract foreign and domestic investment, access to information, the right to privacy and confidentiality, whistle-blowing, ethics and corporate social responsibility.
The SAHRC, through its unit dealing with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, saw the need to develop a better understanding of the ways in which different anti-corruption, business and transparency strategies were perceived and used by companies.
