This comes after the company reached a settlement agreement with SA's National Prosecuting Authority to pay more than $61 million into SA's Criminal Assets Recovery Account.

The company has admitted guilt for being involved in unlawful and corrupt conduct involving over $110 million worth of contracts awarded by Eskom and Transnet from 2012 to 2016.  The Black Business Council Chief Executive Kganki Matabane says based on evidence, an impression has been created that people and organisations can buy themselves out of a system.

“We come in from a difficult past where our country was nearly collapsed by corruption. And if we say that we take corruption seriously, we should treat it as almost like a national emergency, and anyone shown to be involved in corruption. should be dealt with very harshly so that we can show those ones who are thinking of doing the same that corruption does not pay and that the country take it very seriously. We need to isolate all those people who are involved in corruption, including McKinsey and others who were fingered, who have paid money back to the state. We should say paying is not enough, the individuals who took those decisions should be dealt with, they should go to jail,” Matabane said.

He ays the country should make the distinction between the executives who took decisions and those who signed and authorised for money to exchange hands.

“The ones who signed are still there, it does not matter whether they have been fired or not. They should still be pursued and dealt with directly. Let them go to jail, let them face embarrassment so then we will be able to deter some of the people who are thinking of doing the same, or even themselves,” Matabane said.

He says companies that benefit from these kinds of deals should be blacklisted.

“This will ensure that companies guarantee they put in place proper internal controls and general controls that will guard against anything like this happening in the future,” Matabane said.

--ChannelAfrica--