Davies bemoans corruption’s undermining of industrial policy capability
Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies on Monday said corruption undermines industrial policy capabilities.
He was speaking during an interactive business breakfast dialogue on the rural township industrial economy that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), together with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, as well as the eThekwini municipality and Ithala Development Finance Corporation.
“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, those that don’t abide by the law unfairly outcompete those that do and this includes collusion; in fact, collusion is the polite name for corruption," said Davies.
The Minister pointed out that over the years, the department has seen a number of dodgy tenders, many of which do not support locally produced products but support imports.
These tenders were some of the actions that undermine the country’s industrial policy capabilities.
He added that these actions weaken one of the most important policy tools – 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,” Davies asserted.
While sharing views on the importance of the township and rural economy, he highlighted the importance of the Industrial Parks Revitalisation Programme which was initiated in 2016 with a focus on revitalising industrial parks.
Many of these are in the townships and rural areas and serve as a key intervention for industrialising the rural and township economy.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation