SAfrica Crime Blights Local Firms Reputation

South Africas Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday economic crime had reached unacceptable levels.

South Africa's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday economic crime had reached unacceptable levels, besmirching local firms global reputation and the government would be tougher on it.

Manuel said the government would actively enforce laws to curb corruption in both the private sector and government.

"The culture of compliance with both the law and the principles of sound corporate governance is not embedded deeply enough across our corporate world," Manuel said in a speech at a National Prosecuting Authority conference.

"The era of cajoling business to get its house in order is rapidly coming to an end. It will be replaced with more active and activist law enforcement," he said.

Manuel said victims of white collar crime were often poor people who had lost their life savings to greedy financial services officials who compromised the credibility of the country's financial system.

South Africa has been rocked by the collapse of investment group Fidentia in early March, which was put under curatorship after 680 million rand ($93.35 million) went missing. Two of the company's senior directors were arrested and charged with fraud.

Fidentia's single biggest investor was the Mineworkers' Provident Fund which looks after the interests of miners' widows and orphans.

"I am deeply troubled when those in charge of the institutions of the financial system flout the trust placed in them by using the financial system for their own enrichment at the cost of their investors," Manuel said.

The government had doubled the budget of the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, and the Special Investigating Unit, which deals with public servants' corruption, Manuel said.

The Finance Ministry would facilitate co-ordination between the crime-fighting agencies to win the fight against violent and white-collar crime, which had also reared its head among some government officials.