Cape Town - The government was "extremely concerned" about the growing perception of corruption in its ranks, and the view that corruption in the civil service was not being firmly addressed, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said on Thursday.

Lekota told the South African Editors' Forum that the country cannot afford this kind of image, which was exacerbated by the current arms deal controversy.

It was imperative to shed such an image, because nobody "wants to invest in a country that is perceived to be fundamentally corrupt," Lekota said.

Lekota made these statements on the eve of President Thabo Mbeki's speech to open parliament on Friday. It is believed in political circles that Mbeki will send out a strong message that his government will not tolerate corruption.

Lekota further stressed that the final decisions on the controversial R43 billion arms deal were taken by the South African Cabinet.

He assured the editors' forum that senior Cabinet ministers, including himself, the minister of finance and the minister of trade and industry, had scrutinised every aspect of the main contracts and minutes of the deal.

The government was indisputably responsible for the main contracts, Lekota said, and therefore he could unequivocally say that no irregularities occurred in the signing of these contracts.

He stressed, however, that the government could not be held responsible for irregularities that might have occurred in the negotiation of the subcontracts.

It was possible that individuals were approached by companies or others with attempts to bribe. "I cannot say if this was the case or not," Lekota said, but he stressed that the final say on subcontracts did not lie with government.

Lekota went on to say that the debate around the arms deal would eventually prove to be a test for South Africa's democracy. It was therefore imperative that the investigation into the controversy be done in a way that would yield national consensus, he said.

On the exclusion of the Heath investigation unit from the probe, Lekota said that a similar unit could be employed at a later stage if necessary.

In answer to a question, the minister said that this would be possible only after prima facie evidence of irregularities was found. 

With acknowledgement to News24.