Crime busters 'six feet under'

Cosatu chief Zwelinzima Vavi says corruption-busters have been assassinated but nothing has been done about it. He blasted two provincial governments for not acting against the killers of whistle-blowers and singled out Mpumalanga and the North West as dangerous provinces for people who had disclosed sensitive information. Members of the labour federation in Mpumalanga who asked questions on corruption "are now six feet under", he told a seminar on South Africa after the World Cup in Joburg on Thursday.

Vavi said one of Cosatu's leaders in North West, Moss Phakoe, was gunned down in his house in Rustenburg in March last year for fighting corruption at local government level. "Everybody from the premier (Maureen Modiselle) down are saying they know the killer and will arrest him, but no arrests have been made yet," he said.

North West government spokesperson Khotso Khumalo said Vavi had his facts wrong. "It is factually incorrect to say that the authorities and the premier know who the killers are, because that would imply that they're not acting." He said police were handling the matter.

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, said Vavi should come with proof of his allegations. Sithole said many whistle-blowers in Mpumalanga were alive and well, and testifying in corruption cases. "Any truth (to Vavi's allegations) must be determined by a court of law. He must assist us and give us proof of the people getting killed, not just say what he reads in the media," said Sithole.

There have been unverified reports in Mpumalanga of a Mozambican assassin who was allegedly hired to take out corruption-busters. Several politicians were killed and their deaths linked to their attempts to root out corruption. Vavi also said some union leaders were receiving death threats. He himself had received a death threat after he said President Jacob Zuma was not acting on allegations of corruption against ministers. Vavi said the ANC had admitted in its discussion documents for its national general council that corruption was a problem in the party, but he was threatened with disciplinary action when he raised the issue.

Vavi's predecessor-turned-businessman Jay Naidoo on Thursday also called for the fight against corruption and the exploitation of power to be stepped up. He urged NGOs and civil society organisations to fight against the "predatory elite". "If you want an enemy it is these 'democratic' elites who will use military language to create more space at the feeding trough. "(Trade unionists of old) used military terminology that was driven by a purpose, but now it is driven by self-interest, which is to get into government and to get their hands on power," he said.

Vavi noted that people who were appointed in government "moved closer to the seat of patronage". He also said the political climate in the alliance had not improved since the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference.

Source: IoL