All states should be honest with their citizens, Cope first deputy president and member of parliament Mbhazima Shilowa said on Thursday.

He was addressing the annual conference of the Black Management Forum (BMF) in Midrand on the topic of the maintenance of economic fundamentals against the backdrop of the present global economic meltdown.

Shilowa urged the government to engage with communities on service delivery.

"They must tell the people that they thought they could provide sanitation and water.

He suggested that government keep a check on unnecessary spending.

"The government could say that it is facing difficult times and it will therefore cut down on perks and salaries.

"It would then be in a position to approach CEOs of big business and suggest that they tighten their belts too," he said.

Shilowa said it was hard for any government to face its workers and ask them to tighten their belts when members of government were flaunting their wealth.

All South Africans should aim to have a shared perspective during the present difficult economic conditions.

"At the moment we don't have a shared perspective and a shared idea of where we want to go," he said.

Shilowa said he had been reproached for attacking government "all the time".

"But when things go wrong in Cope at any time, they put the boot in," he said.

Shilowa was of the opinion that the National Planning Commission served its purpose.

"Leave aside Trevor [Manuel, Minister in the Presidency], the National Planning Commission is important. It shouldn't have been given only six months to report back to the president. "The government should have said to Trevor that he had 12 to 18 months to sit down and engage with society and only then produce the first draft," Shilowa said.

Turning to the recession, he advised government to identify key sections of the economy that could be a catalyst for recovery.

"By that I mean industries that will move out of the recession faster than others," he said.