As South Africans contend with power cuts on Monday owing to insufficient energy generation capacity by Eskom, the Democratic Alliance (DA) wants government to open up the market to allow the participation of small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) in the renewable energy sector.

The party pointed out that South Africa was experiencing unprecedented levels of power cuts this year, with no sign of an immediate end to the supply challenges faced by Eskom, which was also seeking a 32% tariff increase from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

“Meanwhile, the damage to the economy, particularly small enterprises, has been immediate and enormous. Broad economic cost due to daily disruptions includes significant losses in production, investments, large scale de-industrialisation, greater unemployment and declining livelihoods. The country's unstable power supply further undermines the government's so-called plan of encouraging digital innovations among small and micro-entrepreneurs,” the DA said.

The party believed that SMMEs could play a significant role in solving South Africa’s power crisis by being allowed to take part in small-scale energy generation (SSEG) activities.

The DA added that the ongoing electricity crisis posed the single biggest existential threat to any business in the SMME sector.

“It is, therefore, unconscionable that the Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is not actively working to promote increased SMME participation in the renewable energy sector,” it said.

The party explained that SSEG would provide the opportunity for traditional electricity consumers to be transformed into “prosumers”, by allowing small businesses to become active contributors to the supply of electricity while generating employment and economic output throughout the energy supply chain.

The DA blamed the African National Congress (ANC) for the power supply crisis, saying it was a direct consequence of the ANC’s “hostile State interventionist and race-based policy approach” to the energy solution, which it believed incentivised corruption on an industrial scale.

South Africa is teetering on the brink of its most severe power cuts yet, just two months after the government announced emergency measures to try and end intermittent outages, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to cut short an overseas trip to oversee the response to the crisis.

State power utility Eskom Holdings, which provides the bulk of the nation’s electricity, began cutting 6,000 megawatts from the national grid over the weekend -- equivalent to the most on record -- to prevent the collapse of the national grid and its executives warned there was a risk the situation could deteriorate further. The rand weakened to a two-year low against the dollar on Monday, while shares of mining and manufacturing companies slumped.

“The situation will almost definitely get worse,” with no immediate signs of substantial new capacity being added to the grid, said Hilton Trollip, an energy research consultant at the University of Cape Town.

Eskom is struggling to meet electricity demand because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down, and the nation has been subjected to rolling blackouts since 2008. There have been blackouts for eight straight months this year.

Ramaphosa, who is in the UK attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, decided to skip a planned address to the United Nations General Assembly and head home instead after holding a virtual briefing with cabinet ministers and officials, according to his spokesman Vincent Magwenya. It’s the second time he’s had to curtail an overseas visit to respond to the energy crisis -- he cut short a visit to Egypt in late 2019, just five months after he was elected president.

While Ramaphosa announced plans two months ago to increase Eskom’s maintenance budget to improve its plants’ reliability and enable it to buy more surplus power from private producers, those measures largely focused on longer-term solutions and haven’t made a tangible difference so far. An earlier plan to buy emergency power from producers has faced ongoing delays, with only 150 megawatts of capacity from private projects by developer Scatec ASA forging ahead.

The latest power cuts have “come at the worst possible time” as financing conditions are tightening significantly across the globe, economists at Rand Merchant Bank said in a note to clients.

MINING LOSSES

The rand weakened as much as 1.1% to 17.7975 to the dollar on Monday, the weakest level since May 2020. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index dropped for a fifth straight day in Johannesburg, declining as much as 1.6%.

“We are sending people underground and working, but there are implications” for production, with energy-intensive units and processes being managed to reduce power demand, platinum-group metals giant Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. said in response to questions.

The power cuts contributed to the economy’s 0.7% contraction in the second quarter. BNP Paribas analysts estimate that it would cost the South African economy R5.1-billion ($288 million) a day should the situation worsen to the point where 8,000 megawatts of capacity were removed from the grid.

Ongoing outages could affect water and sanitation services because pump stations may not be able to operate properly, according to the municipality of Cape Town, the country’s main tourist hub. While permanent generators have been installed at all wastewater treatment plants, there is limited availability for mobile plants and some sites could overflow if outages last more than a couple of hours, it said.

CRISIS PERSISTS

On Sunday, Eskom said it plans to buy about 1 000 MW of electricity from private producers, but didn’t spell out where it will access that capacity or where the money will come from. The utility has already spent R7.7-billion this year on diesel to run turbines used at times of peak demand, and is in talks with the World Bank to borrow an equivalent amount to build additional renewable generation capacity and procure batteries.

Gwede Mantashe, the energy minister,...

South Africa will require R500-billion in private investment to end power cuts that are stalling economic growth by the start of 2025, said Peter Attard Montalto, Intellidex’s head of capital markets research.

The money is needed to construct 15 gigawatts of generation capacity and five gigawatts of battery storage, he said, adding that the requirement is unlikely to be met within such a tight time-frame.

South Africa is facing its worst-year yet of power cuts as Eskom imposes rolling blackouts, known locally as load-shedding, because its poorly maintained, coal-fired plants keep breaking down. The country has been plagued by outages since 2008.

“Ending load-shedding by end-2024 is possible, but a stretch,” Montalto said in a response to questions. It would require that all efforts to end the crisis and introduce energy reforms “would have to go like clockwork,” he said.

The country will need to invest an additional R175-billion in expanding its power grid over the next decade, Montalto said in a presentation to the Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission on Thursday.

Stellenbosch University (SU) has welcomed a Western Cape High Court judgment which declared that the university did not violate its language policy.

The Western Cape High Court dismissed an application by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the university's student organisation StudentePlein (SP) to have the changes in the language implementation plans in the four semesters of 2020 and 2021 declared unconstitutional, unlawful, and in violation of the policy.

The DA and SP accused the university of using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to do away with providing learning material in Afrikaans during this period. They also argued that students were not sufficiently involved in the process of introducing these adjustments in the policy.

In papers filed at the High Court in October last year, they argued that the university violated its 2016 language policy by making learning material available only in English, and not Afrikaans.

"The ruling. confirms SU's ongoing point of view that there was no deviation from the Language Policy, but rather consulted and approved changes to certain language arrangements of certain faculties. SU's Language Policy made full provision for this," said Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, deputy vice-chancellor of learning and teaching.

News24 reported that the university's senate had accepted a recommendation from its academic planning committee (APC) that lectures provide new learning material in English only and not in Afrikaans, as its policy required.

The recommendation was in response to demands for converting learning material to English and Afrikaans to accommodate online teaching and learning during the pandemic.

The senate said old learning material in the language would be made available to students requiring it.

In its court papers, the DA and SP argued that the "deviation from Afrikaans" was imposed on university faculties by the APC, which influenced the senate to approve it.

They argued that this violated the policy, which stipulated that faculties should make changes and that it should not be "imposed" by the senate.

In its judgment, the court said that although promoting multilingualism was among the core pillars of the policy, it made provisions for changes under unprecedented circumstances like the pandemic.

The court stated that before the government introduced the hard lockdown in March 2020, faculties had – in 2019 – made submissions for the 2020 academic year.

These plans were, however, scrapped when universities had to introduce alternatives to adhere to the regulations.

The court ruled that these changes, including in the language policy, were detailed in the university's documents on its plan for the pandemic.

"The documents also stated that faculties' planning was likely to include changes in module outcomes, assessment schemes, and language policy implementation to adapt the academic offering to what was reasonably practicable in light of the then-Covid-19 measures," the ruling stated.

The ruling also detailed other changes implemented by the university to ensure adherence to the government-imposed regulations. These included shortening holidays, evacuating students from campus, and facilitating effective online teaching and learning.

The ruling also cited a February 2021 communiqué sent to students by the university, in which it said online learning would continue despite the relaxation of some regulations.

It indicated that changes in the language policy would continue.

The court ruled that SP failed to indicate in its argument that students who preferred to learn in Afrikaans could understand English, which meant there was no violation of their constitutional right to an education.

It also found that the university sufficiently informed students of the changes in the policy and that these were not "imposed" on faculties.

The court ruled, "I am persuaded that its explanation of involvement of faculties, some level of student representation in that involvement, and the decisio...

Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke said her office would pursue a strategy to tighten internal controls on appointments and compensation-related transactions. This after a Bowmans report cleared her of eight allegations made by the AG's head of human resources, Mlungisi Mabaso, but raised these matters as internal shortcomings.

Maluleke was briefing Parliament's Standing Committee on the Auditor General (SCOAG) on Friday morning on the report into the now-refuted allegations.

After clashing with Maluleke over his performance and the low number of recruited trainees to work at the institution that successfully obtained a Certificate of Theory in Accountancy (CTA), Mabaso proceeded to accuse Maluleke of clearing irregular transactions and making irregular appointments.

In the Bowmans report, Advocate Werner Krull clears Maluleke of any wrongdoing and refutes Mabaso's claims that she authorised a string of unlawful payments as the incumbent and deputy AG to benefit the late former AG Kimi Makwetu.

Krull found that while he had 22 years' experience in public relations, the appointment of Harold Maloka as head of communications did not meet the legal requirement, after the waiver of the recruitment process.

Mabaso had also accused Maluleke of paying interest on the deferred compensation package to Makwetu's widow, without the authorisation of SCOAG.

Krull found that while the interest was payable on the package "the calculation of and the dates in respect of which interest was paid was incorrect". The report recommended that the calculation be revisited and, if necessary, be recouped from his estate.

Deputy AG Vonani Chauke told the committee that while the Bowmans investigation cleared Maluleke of wrongdoing, the document-keeping standards at the institution where it related to appointments needed to be improved.

"In cases where the executives responsible did not do their jobs, we will take action. We take the legal opinion of the report seriously and we will work to tighten control weaknesses with a time-bound strategy," said Chauke.

Chauke said after interrogating the legal opinion, the audit committee noted weaknesses in two out of the nine allegations against the AG, namely the calculation of interest paid to the deceased estate of the late AG Mr Makwetu and the appointment of the head of communications.

"These isolated matters of procedure will be considered in the broader context of the AGSA's organisational risk assessment. The executive leadership committed to including the procedural weaknesses in a plan for the committee's monitoring at its scheduled meetings," Chauke said.

Maluleke said she met with Mabaso in June after he had complained that the manner in which she held him accountable for the low uptake of accredited recruits amounted to humiliation.

She said Mabaso asserted that if his claims against her went public, they would hurt his reputation, and he then proceeded to request a financial settlement. She said she refused to entertain a financial settlement to facilitate Mabaso's exit, asking him to either continue working or resign.

"I cannot allow myself to be intimidated or threatened from doing my job. It is against this background that I had these allegations subjected to a swipe and transparent review. We have been transparent with staff and oversight institutions about this matter from the beginning," she said.

A statement from the office of the AG said Mabaso is expected to appear before the disciplinary committee before the end of September.

Former Corruption Watch executive director and member of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council David Lewis stressed on Thursday that while South Africa is in need of a new anti-corruption agency, it must not include law enforcement as he believes it will enormously restrict the public access to the agency.

One of Zondo Commission report recommendations is the establishment of a new anti-corruption agency.

Lewis was speaking during the State capture conference hosted by the Public Affairs Research Institute and the Council for the Advancement of the Constitution.

Lewis pointed out that the State’s agency that normally coordinates anti-corruption activities, the anti-corruption task team, is currently led by law enforcement.

He noted that the confidentiality requirements in law enforcement for agencies such as the Financial Intelligence Centre, the prosecutorial authority and the Hawks, are very strong and that the decision making process cannot be interfered with.

“If they are incorporated into the new Council, the Council will have to be effective, other anti-corruption activities will have to be subordinated to the law enforcement requirements for confidentiality. So public campaigns, media statements, all the staff that allows the public to develop a sense of confidence, sense of engagements with anti-corruption activities, will be changed because law enforcement requirements for confidentiality would have to be respected,” he explained.

Added to that, he noted that to set up a new chapter nine institution, it would require at least two constitutional amendments with an elaborate legislative structure and a statutory basis.

He said one of the reasons why the anti-corruption strategy has failed is because it has no form of statutory basis.

“I do not know if a chapter nine institution is necessary,” he stated.

He said a new agency should be involved in advocacy, research and public campaigns.

He suggested that it would be an interesting and important task for the agency to look at why the State agency has been a “total failure”. Lewis believes one of the reasons it has been unsuccessful is because it includes both law enforcement and non-law enforcement bodies.

He said while there were some good reasons for decentralisation, he believes it has become fragmented and impossible for National Treasury and other entities to exercise oversight.

He said one of the things that will need to be worked out in the new agency, if is to be established, is a clear outline of what will be centralised and what will be decentralised. Also needing clarification is the investigation of irregularities, corruption, mismanagement, which he said is part of a centralised function.

APPOINTMENT PROCESSES

Lewis made the point that a key element in the State capture project was the appointment process for boards and executives of State-owned entities, as well as the appointments of director generals of government departments such as mining, minerals and energy, which were of interest to Gupta targets.

He said the appointments were made in such a way to facilitate the State capture saga, and he thinks it will be a good idea to place appointments in the hands of a “blue ribbon panel” – a pool of people with unimpeachable integrity and some degree of human resource experience.

“Obviously from time to time if you are appointing somebody to do a contact to build a nuclear power station, you don’t appoint people who are experts in procuring stationary. So there have to be technical expertise on these committees as well,” he stressed.

He also suggested a high level government representative on each of panel as government was entitled to require that appointees generally support the strategies and approach of the government of the day.

He suggested that it was a bad idea for one body to appoint an employee who is accountable to another person, explaining that if the CFO of a State enterprise reports to the CEO, it should be the State enterprise that ma...

Police Minister Bheki Cele says some officers are breaking the law, extorting communities, and committing acts of corruption while hiding behind their blue uniforms.

According to Cele, between 1 April and September this year, 24 police officers were arrested for various crimes in the Western Cape.

On Thursday, he addressed a press conference in Parliament where he described the police's efforts to curb extortion and kidnappings in the Western Cape.

"This includes 11 police arrested for corruption. Four officers were arrested for fraud, four more were arrested for extortion, and another four members were arrested for defeating the ends of justice. One officer has been found in possession of drugs and is answering to that charge," Cele said.

"We have agreed that restoring the trust deficit between communities and the SAPS will need the police service clean house. I believe these arrests, while they are painful, they do send a strong message that police ineptness and police corruption will never be tolerated and won't go unpunished."

Cele said police in the Western Cape were investigating 32 cases of kidnapping between March and September.

"It remains encouraging that the SAPS in the province continue to make inroads regarding kidnapping cases. A total of 15 kidnapping suspects have been arrested. This includes the court appearance of five suspects who appeared at the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on 12 September 2022. The five-member gang appeared on charges of conspiracy to commit a kidnapping and other charges related to the failed kidnapping of a business women of Chinese nationality."

He said the judiciary was also intensifying the fight against corruption within its ranks.

This included magistrate's courts that had turned into bail "wholesales" in some parts of the country.

"The Correctional Service Department has also made strides in the fight against alleged corruption in its correctional facilities. This includes allegations of prison warders who are colluding with criminals while behind bars," Cele said.

Cele also gave an update on attacks on public transport vehicles.

He said the Western Cape transport sector had been recently marred by violence, intimidation and acts of sabotage, placing commuters' and drivers' lives at risk.

"Thirty-eight cases were registered of attacks on Intercape, Golden Arrow, Mavumisa buses, as well as taxis... from 1 August to 31 August 2022. Sixteen people have been arrested, charged with public violence and malicious damage to property. Interventions to stop the attacks and violence in this sector have included investigative task teams reliant on early warnings from Crime intelligence to make arrests and prevent further attacks."

Officials from the Eastern and Western Cape had been meeting to address challenges in both provinces, and increased police deployment on bus routes had also yielded encouraging results, Cele said.

Meanwhile, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said Cele must establish an extortion and kidnapping task force for the city.

Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka says advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane's claims that her office's Phala Phala investigation has been unduly delayed because of her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa are "inaccurate and untrue".

The investigation relates to the break-in and theft at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in 2020.

"No facts are put up in support of these allegations," Gcaleka states in papers filed at the Western Cape High Court.

"That is not surprising. Adv Mkhwebane has not been the incumbent in office since 9 June 2022. Nor has she been involved in that investigation. Consequently, it is hard to believe that she has any knowledge of the actual progress of that investigation."

Gcaleka has also hit back at opposition parties that have demanded that she provide them with an interim report on the Public Protector's Phala Phala investigation – something she says is "contrary to the legal standards that the [Public Protector] must comply with" in relation to its Executive Ethics Act investigations.

"Despite my efforts, parties persist in their attempts to place unlawful demands on the PPSA (Public Protector South Africa). They appear to be unlawful interference with the [Public Protector's] functioning and may contravene section 181(4) of the Constitution," she said.

Gcaleka is seeking to intervene in Mkhwebane's urgent application for the immediate enforcement of the Western Cape High Court order that Ramaphosa's decision to suspend her – in the days after she launched an investigation into the 2020 break-in at his Phala-Phala farm – was "improper" and invalid.

Mkhwebane wants that ruling to immediately come into effect, despite the fact that both the president and the DA are seeking to appeal it.

While Gcaleka is not opposing Mkhwebane's application for immediate reinstatement, she says her office has a duty to correct the "inaccuracies and untruths" contained in her court papers – including Mkhwebane's allegations in relation to the Phala Phala investigation.

On Friday, just hours before the Western Cape High Court released its ruling that Mkhwebane's suspension was invalid, the EFF, UDM, ACDP, Cope, PAC, and ATM marched on the Public Protector's office in Pretoria to demand answers about the Phala Phala investigation.

They argued that, under the prescripts of the Executive Members Ethics' Act, the investigation into Ramaphosa should have been completed within 30 days – a deadline that Mkhwebane and the Public Protectors before her have repeatedly failed to meet).

"In 30 days, you were supposed to release the parts of the report which are ready. Say, 'It is not a complete report, but I will return and give you the full report.' You have violated the law. The report must be released with immediate effect," EFF leader Julius Malema said, as reported by News24.

"We do not want answers. We want a report."

Willie Madisha from Cope said, "We are tired because you (Gcaleka) are protecting thieves, instead of dealing with this problem we are faced with. You should have dealt with this problem a long time ago. We are extremely angry."

Gcaleka, however, points out that Mkhwebane herself has told Parliament "that the earliest period within which a report can be completed, in respect of [Executive Members' Ethics Act] matters, is within 6 months of receipt of the complaint". This is a "reasonable approach, given the demands on the Office", she said – before pointing out that the Public Protector had never actually completed such an investigation within that six-month deadline.

"I do not intend to risk the integrity of the investigation by issuing any 'initial' or interim report in terms of the EMEA (on the information and documentation obtained during the investigation this far)," Gcaleka says.

"This is because the investigation team is still in the process of establishing the legitimacy of the allegations raised in the complaint. The premature release of a report could create the risk of undermining any findings ...

There are no exceptional circumstances warranting Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's relief sought in the Western Cape High Court to uphold the court's invalidation of her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa, his lawyer argues.

Hours after the court handed down its judgment overturning Mkhwebane's suspension, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lodged a notice to appeal directly to the Constitutional Court, putting Mkhwebane's return to her office on ice.

On Saturday, Mkhwebane filed an urgent application aimed at ensuring that she returns to her position, seeking a ruling from the Western Cape High Court that her suspension is "... declared to be operational and executable. pending any application for leave to appeal and/or appeal".

Mkhwebane contended that the delays, not only to the Phala Phala investigation but also to the office's other work, would be "... quite serious and clearly irreversible" if she was not able to return to work.

She wanted to return to her office to tackle, among other things, "...the most urgent issue of the Phala Phala investigation".

In a responding affidavit on behalf of Ramaphosa filed on Wednesday, State attorney Mark Owen argued there are no exceptional circumstances, "and she has shown none" why the High Court should grant her request.

"Adv Mkhwebane cannot show on a balance of probabilities that she will suffer irreparable harm if the court does not so order."

Owen also took issue with Mkhwebane not asking the Constitutional Court to confirm Friday's ruling, as the order relates to the conduct of the president.

"Adv Mkhwebane has not sought confirmation of the Full Court order. Such relief could and should have been sought on an urgent basis if she intends to rely on the relief granted by the Full Court as a matter of urgency," argued Owen.

Owen pointed out that the only basis on which the court invalidated Mkhwebane's suspension was because they found a "reasonable apprehension of bias and a conflict of interest" related to her Phala Phala investigation.

"Adv Mkhwebane has never challenged the reasons for her suspension, and the Full Court did not find substantive shortcomings with the reasons for the suspension."

According to Owen, this undermines Mkhwebane's case. In an accompanying affidavit, Ramaphosa's attorney Peter Harris states that there had been "a number of interactions" with acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka on the Phala Phala investigation, saying Ramaphosa was cooperating with the investigation and intended to continue doing so.

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa applied for leave to appeal the High Court ruling in the Constitutional Court.

Like the DA, Ramaphosa argues the full Bench order that Ramaphosa's suspension of Mkhwebane was invalid and needs to be confirmed by the apex court to become effective. But, if this is not the case, the president is bringing a conditional application for leave to appeal the ruling directly to the Constitutional Court.

If the Constitutional Court didn't grant the conditional leave to appeal, Ramaphosa would turn to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

Ramaphosa's lawyers also argued that there is no evidence that Mkhwebane's suspension had anything to do with Phala Phala.

The full bench's ruling that the Public Protector was improperly suspended was based on the fact that Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane while he was engulfed in a scandal around a February 2020 burglary at his Limpopo game farm, Phala Phala.

The Phala Phala scandal erupted days before Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane.

On 1 June, Arthur Fraser, former director-general of the State Security Agency and former correctional services commissioner, opened a kidnapping and money laundering case against Ramaphosa, Presidential Protection Unit head Major General Wally Rhoode, and Crime Intelligence members for allegedly concealing the break-in.

According to Fraser's affidavit, Ramaphosa had at least US$4-million in cash stashed in a couch at his game farm – and then played a part in a cover-up fo...

Former Auditor-General and head of investigations for the State capture inquiry Terence Nombembe on Wednesday pointed out that greed is why South Africa is unable to have a decent State.

Nombembe was speaking during a conferenc on State capture hosted by the Public Affairs Research Institute and the Council for the Advancement of the Constitution. The conference was initially scheduled to take place earlier in the year, however, owing to the extensions granted to the Commission to submit its final report, the conference was postponed.

Nombembe said greed was the primary cause for respected individuals or organisations being involved in fraud and corruption scandals.

“And I don’t think we have to be apologetic about that, greed is what is actually consuming and imploding our ability to have a decent State in South Africa. I think we should be very direct - unless we can get rid of greed we will not be able to reverse the tide. That is the animal, that is the enemy we have got to defeat,” he stated.

He said in the context of State capture, people were not looking for food, but rather for wealth and power because of greed.

He warned that South Africa had leadership that was supposed to prevent management themselves overriding the controls.

He said during State capture there was a breach of the code of professional conduct by some people in leadership positions, in assurance roles, in the civil service and even in law enforcement agencies, as well as business.

“It’s basically breach over breach by everyone that supposed to be a trusted player in the system, all because of greed. Not to mention the excessive use of cash and other means to actually make sure that people look the other way, taking bribes and kickbacks,” he said.

Harmful means were used to victimise those that pushed back and tried to expose wrongdoing, he noted.

Nombembe said there was no denial that many of the Commission’s recommendations required further investigation, particularly by the law enforcement agencies.

He said in his view the things that were found by the State Capture Commission were still happening today.

CONSISTENCY AND PUBLIC VISIBILITY

Meanwhile, he said there was consistency and fairness in the manner in which the State Capture Commission operated.

He said the continuous public visibility of processes at the Commission was important.

He explained that the agility of the delivery team, working using less traditional and tried-and-tested methods, was a hallmark of the success of the processes, and stressed that without agility there would have been multiple conflicts, delays and unnecessary arguments.

He said it was important for the delivery team to work in such a manner that would ensure that there was flexibility and agility aligned to the chairperson’s priorities.

He said the issue of integrity and ethical culture was something that could also not be taken for granted or compromised and that it had to be the inherent cornerstone of the whole delivery team.