President Cyril Ramaphosa says he’s confident that there will be successful conviction of those found guilty of COVID-19 related corruption.
Graft allegations, implicating government officials and those close to them, have been rife amid the pandemic. This includes the President’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko.
Greed and looting started with food meant for the poor. Revelations of councillors stealing food parcels angered South Africans and the President. Following the reports, Ramaphosa’s plea of national unity and solidarity fell on deaf ears as some public officials saw the need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in public hospitals and other relief measures as opportunities to feast economically from state coffers.
“We are going to keep a hawk’s eye on how the money is going to be spent. I spoke to the auditor general that we need to put systems in place so that monies don’t end up in people’s pockets, like for instance with food resources, food parcels. So we want to stem that out and I don’t to hear of a commission request after the COVID package,” warned President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The awarding of PPE tenders in provinces like Gauteng seemed like a bonanza for the politically connected.
In the video below, the ANC in Gauteng vows to act decisively against corruption:
Accusations of the Limpopo government giving tenders to comrades soon followed; the Eastern Cape allegedly gave a tender to a dead man – forcing the President to step up efforts to nip the corruption in the bud.
In addition to authorising the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe the alleged misuse of COVID-19 funds, he also announced the establishment of “collaborative and coordinating centre to strengthen the collective efforts among law enforcement agencies so as to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute COVID-19 related corruption.”
President Ramaphosa says a complete overhaul of the government procurement system is needed.
“To bring about a new and reformed procurement system, that will be underpinned by a number of elements and those elements are preventative measures and this where the auditor general is very strong and his work is important.”
In the video below, the Kathrada Foundation calls for prosecution of those implicated in COVID-19 corruption:
