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The Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) welcomes the ban by the National Treasury imposed on consultancy Bain & Co from doing business with the state for 10 years as a step in the right direction and a victory for the rule of law.

National Treasury confirmed the ban and the effective date of restriction is 5 September 2022 until 4 September 2032, banning the firm for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices related to a SARS [SA Revenue Service] contract.

President of PPF Kashif Wicomb says: “The move should send a strong message to all those who collude to steal that crime or any illegal methods is not a profitable venture.  To borrow from the famous novel As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, ‘The universe does not favor the greedy the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so’.  The universe favours the honest and ethical, and that is the message we should all take from the saga”.

The PPF advocates not only for a developmental and professional state but also an ethical one; that is driven by constitutional values and principles of public administration and the rule of law focused on the progressive realization of socio-economic rights and social justice as outlined in the Bill of Rights.

Following the UK Government ban of Bain & Co from government contracts, the PPF already in August 2022 vociferously and publicly called for the South African government “to bar Bain & Co from getting any new appointments within the South African Government until it has made full disclosure of its work in South Africa”.

“It is a monumental victory for Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture and the Nugent commission, and will go a long way to build confidence in the State,”  Wicomb says.

Issued by Ngokwethu Communication on behalf of The Progressive Professionals Forum