Kimberley residents in the Northern Cape have blamed corrupt officials for poor service delivery in local and provincial government departments.
Residents say the lack of accountability by those in leadership is collapsing the province.
Their views come ahead of high-profile cases that will be before the court this month. They include the Personal Protective Equipment fraud case at the Health Department and security tender at the Department of Safety and Liaison.
2021 saw some senior government officials nabbed for corrupt activities related to the procurement of services and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
“Corruption in this province is a serious challenge. Year in and year out we’ve been preaching the same thing. The administration has proven over and over again that they have no interest in dealing with corruption,” a concerned resident Mosimanegape Gaborone says.
“As far as corruption is concerned, if you break the law you must face the music, you go to jail. Mainly, with what is happening now nobody gets convicted, nobody really goes to jail we just see people being forced to resign and then we hear nothing after that,” another resident Tuelo Montwedi adds.
Kimberley residents blame corruption for poor service delivery:
PPE corruption and tender irregularities have become the buzzwords. High-profile government employees sat in courtrooms to account for money squandered.
Millions however remain unaccounted for with residents saying they have lost hope in the provincial leadership.
The province recently made headlines when senior Health Department officials – Dr Dion Theys and Daniel Gaborone – got arrested for a R43 million worth PPE tender fraud.
Dr Theys has another matter before the court which involves the building of nursing accommodation in 2014.
The Public Service Commission in the province says several fraud and corruption investigations are also underway.
Northern Cape Public Service Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya says, “We have a few cases here related in the department of health as well as cases of maladministration we are dealing with. However, it is premature for us to really dwell on the findings of those particular cases.”
Finance MEC Abraham Vosloo says the province has started instituting disciplinary action against officials implicated in corruption.
“Within the Northern Cape we as the executive ensured proper control mechanisms are in place to make sure that if we pick up any form of fraud and corruption in any department or in any municipality, it actually gets addressed, get properly investigated and make sure that is it driven to its logical conclusion.”
The case against former Health HoD and the current Deputy Director General Steven Jonker is expected to be heard in court on January 27. -Reporting by Katleho Morapela
VIDEO: Kimberley residents protest over poor service delivery
