22 December 2006 SA'S POWER COUPLES Hand in hand By FM writers

When it comes to the private lives of SA's public figures, the media are remarkably restrained. SA has many couples who straddle key political and business positions, yet they are treated as one-dimensional - their relationships seem not to exist, despite obvious relevance to their professional lives. It was widely known when love blossomed between finance minister Trevor Manuel and his then director-general Maria Ramos, but no word was uttered in the press. Manuel and Ramos would have made perfect tabloid fare in the UK. No doubt, many column centimetres would also be shed on the potential for conflicts of interest when first lady Zanele Mbeki entered business deals - as Cherie Blair has discovered. But such coverage seems distasteful here. Should we worry about couples with political power? There are good reasons to interrogate relationships between the powerful. A person's interests are far more likely to be served by his or her partner than by an unconnected individual. Ministers have access to information that is material to their business-connected spouses. Without publicity, there is less pressure on those couples to ensure they manage the conflicts properly. This is not to say relationships between those in power are necessarily wrong - like attracts like and it would be a comical failure to try to control that. But publicity can only help couples manage the potential for conflicts of interest. So the FM looks at eight partnerships whose power is greater than the sum of their parts.

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