The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to deal with government employees doing business with the state.
This follows the Public Procurement Report tabled by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in Parliament indicating that approximately R8 billion of the country’s total expenditure goes to businesses owned by state employees, despite regulations prohibiting public servants from doing business with state.
Nene’s report has revealed that more than 2000 government employees are doing business with the state. The report also indicates that billions of rand from the country’s more than R1 trillion expenditure goes to these businesses.
“We see that the extent is quite severe and the report indicates that R8 billion of government’s expenditure is going to about 200 to 300 businesses which is only the tip of the iceberg noting that there are 28 000 employees registered on the central data base and that indicates the extent of the problem and also with regards to non-compliance that we experience from these state officials,” says DA’s spokesperson for Scopa David Ross.
Ross says this is an unacceptable breach of the law and it flies in the face of any effort to rid the state of state capture.
Meanwhile, Scopa chairperson Themba Godi has expressed disappointment on the matter. Godi says public servants who are doing business with the state must be fired.
“Our call as Scopa is that these individuals must actually be dismissed from the civil service because what they are doing is illegal. It is a phenomenon that has been going on for years which has led to corruption and the theft of public monies and for it to continue long after legislation has been passed is actually a shame on the heads of departments whose responsibility it is to ensure that the employees under their watch follow the prescripts of the law.”
