The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development says a forensic investigation is still underway after it discovered a breach of the Guardian’s Fund System (GFS), where R17 million was stolen.
The fund was created to manage money on behalf of persons who are legally incapable or do not have the capacity to manage their own affairs.
Preliminary investigations found that the GFS was breached by staff in the department, and some officials have been put on precautionary suspension.
The department’s senior manager for participatory democracy, Bheki Mbonani says, “We’re not able to discuss the entire aspects of the forensic investigations, after we discovered the incident. The department of justice swiftly took action, and suspended with immediate effect all the payments from the guardians fund.”
“This was done out of caution. So that we can determine the severity of the breach- as well as so that we can trace the law breakers. We put together a forensic team of investigators, four of our officials have been responsible for that- and the department also has also opened up a criminal case,” adds Mbonani.
