A group of business leaders have condemned the silent voices of businesses when the country’s leadership is perceived to be failing its people, especially the poor.

The panelists, who were speaking at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) seminar in Johannesburg, say big business is failing by being in corrupt relationships with the government.

One of the speakers, former Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel says business should influence, understand and contribute to the political landscape.

“You can run through the list of world leaders and many of them were gathered in Hamburg this weekend and it begins to look like a rogue salary so what is there to aspire to and how do we call out the corrupt. And there are other ministers as well who don’t do their jobs and because it doesn’t matter anymore and because it doesn’t matter anymore it’s possible for business to get away with what they can,” says Manuel.