Deputy President David Mabuza has assured Parliament that the government has taken extensive measures to ensure there is no corruption in the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Mabuza says these measures include the centralisation of procurement and distribution.
Answering questions in the National Council of Provinces, Mabuza says the government has learnt from the experience of the procurement of protective personal equipment and is determined that mistakes made there are not repeated.
Crucial to this is the centralisation of procurement.
Gauteng was rocked with PPE corruption scandal:
The Deputy President was also asked by Fanie du Toit of the Freedom Front Plus about fake vaccines that have already surfaced in the country. Mabuza replied that they are aware of these fake vaccines and the country’s security services were dealing with the problem.
Last year police seized fake vaccines in Germiston:
Land restitution issues
On the issue of land restitution, he acknowledged that the pace has been too slow. He says one of the reasons for this is the price of land. He added that the expropriation of land without compensation is only one of several measures the government will pursue to ensure that land is returned to those who were disposed.
He also thanked private sector companies, especially in mining, that have offered pieces of land to the government for restitution purposes.
No forceful retrenchments at Eskom
There were several questions related to Eskom. One of these was with regard to its latest measures to reduce the number of workers.
Mabuza told members that indeed the power utility has too many employees and that the measures are aimed at addressing this anomaly.
He assured the members however that no one is being forcefully retrenched.
