Ramaphosa appoints committee to deal with COVID-19 corruption

The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Thursday that he has appointed a committee to deal with the corruption of all procurement, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sourced for the purpose of containing and responding to COVID-19 pandemic.

President Ramaphosa says he requests full cooperation in providing all information related to “names of companies and amounts of tenders and contracts that have been awarded in the respective department and entities during the period of COVID-19 and the National State of Disaster.”

The Committee is comprised of: Minister of Justice, Minister in the Presidency, Minister of Finance, Minister of Police, Minister of Public Service and Minister of Cogta

Ramaphosa’s call comes after government officials have been implicated in corruption.

Government is taking decisive action not only to safeguard COVID-19 funds but also to strengthen our response against the broader problem of corruption in our society. Read more in the weekly message from President @CyrilRamaphosa: https://t.co/c8vactzLaZ pic.twitter.com/H2yXEKEcdY

— Presidency | South Africa ?? (@PresidencyZA) August 6, 2020

Procurement of COVID-19 related equipment 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has held a meeting with all provincial Health MECs to discuss the procurement of COVID-19 related equipment, following allegations of impropriety in the awarding of some tenders for PPE.

Three African National Congress (ANC) members are on leave of absence after public outrage over a PPE tender that was awarded to Royal Bhaca Projects.

Mboweni has said Treasury’s instructions on awarding of these tenders were disregarded.

In this video below, Mboweni asks law enforcement to probe awarding of PPE tenders:

He says, “It is very clear to me that we have to tighten the process. ft is very clear to me that trust has been broken in some instances and it’s clear to the executive authority and the accounting officers that we must take decisive action.”

Mboweni says there’s a prima facie case to be made for probing the awarding of some tenders for COVID-19 PPE and law enforcement agencies must take action.

Mboweni made these comments while addressing a joint meeting of Parliament committees of finance on the procurement of the equipment, following allegations of widespread corruption in the awarding of some tenders.

@TreasuryRSA Minister @tito_mboweni at Parliament’s finance committees from the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces detailing procurement and #PPEcorruption pic.twitter.com/VzDXcJSTsM

— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 5, 2020