Pretoria - There needs to be a clear separation of responsibilities between politicians who should not be involved in supply chain management and those of officials who do the evaluations, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
"Preferably, our legal frameworks ought to prevent those involved in decision making on tenders from doing business with government or entities related to it," he told a gathering of diplomats in Pretoria.
He said the Municipal Finance Management Act sets a good example in this regard. The comments were part of a speech in which he outlined government's progress in the fight against corruption.
The President said government was strengthening its capacity to enforce compliance with supply chain laws and regulations.
"Accordingly, the Chief Procurement Office will be established during this semester. This will help to reduce fragmentation in the supply chain management system. And the tax clearance system will be enhanced to ensure that those who defraud the tax system do not benefit from government business," Zuma said.
He acknowledged that the biggest problem within government seemed to be in the area of supply chain management and in particular the tendering system. Corruption was delaying government in achieving some of its goals.
"The key objective in everything we do is to reduce and ultimately eradicate poverty and to create a better life for all our people ... our focus needs to be on those programmes that will make us grow faster, create more jobs, make our economy more efficient and more competitive."
At the same time government must continue to deliver services like education, health, public transport and basic services at the local government level.
"In all these activities we are supported by various development partners around the world. We appreciate the development partnerships that we have with various countries represented in this meeting today".
He further highlighted the strategic importance of Africa in Pretoria's foreign policy.
"We share the concern of the international community with the peace and security situation in Mali, Guinea Bissau, Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia, Madagascar and in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," said Zuma.
He said Africa cannot afford any "diversion" from addressing developmental challenges standing between itself and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, among others.
As South Africa prepares to host the fifth BRICS Summit next year, it will utilise its membership of the bloc as a vehicle to advance South-South cooperation.
"We have good bilateral relations with countries of the South. Trade between us is growing steadily."
