Johannesburg remains the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in Gauteng. But Gauteng Premier David Makhura is also trying to flatten another equally urgent curve, the corruption associated with the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the province.
The Premier has announced that two health officials are being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit and that the provincial cabinet will be subjected to lifestyle audits.
As of Wednesday, Gauteng had over 185 000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with over 129 000 recoveries and over 2 300 deaths. Makhura released the latest statistics at the weekly Gauteng Command Council briefing.
‘Fewer active cases’
Gauteng has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the country. But Premier David Makhura says the recovery rate in the province has increased to 70% and the number of active cases has dropped significantly.
“When we have fewer active cases and we have more recoveries, it’s a good story. It is comforting that as of this week, the recoveries in Gauteng are at 70%. There was a period between June and July were the active cases were at 65%. And now the number of active cases is at 29%.”
Makhura says that while this is good news, the worst is far from over. He says the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the province is in densely-populated Soweto.
“The number of confirmed cases in Johannesburg is 76 297. The number of recoveries is 59 759. The number of active cases in Johannesburg is 15 548, and close to 1 000 people have succumbed to COVID-19.”
Corruption allegations
Gauteng’s battle against the pandemic has been marred by allegations of corruption. The Special Investigating Unit has identified two officials in the Gauteng Health Department whom they suspect are involved in corruption relating to the procurement of PPE.
Makhura says anyone implicated will be charged, “They have identified that the two officials who have been central to enabling this large scale grand corruption – one of those officials is still in the system. Another had resigned. The head of department of health has this morning taken action to immediately suspend the official. The official who has resigned, the provincial government and the SIU are pursuing legal and criminal cases against that official.”
Lifestyle audits
The State Security Agency will also be conducting lifestyle audits on the Premier and all his provincial MECs. Makhura says the audits will be concluded in 6 to 8 weeks.
“The Gauteng provincial government for 6 years before this period had endeavored to put in place an open tender system that reduced the level of corruption and wasteful expenditure and irregular expenditure. Once COVID-19 happened, the open tender system was not being implemented. The hyenas attacked. As part of the commitment to clean governance in Gauteng, I have also committed that we will do lifestyle audits for all the members of the executive council.”
From next week, the State Security Agency (SSA) will commence with lifestyle audits on myself and the 10 MEC’s in the Gauteng Provincial Govenment, as we had resolved at the start of the 6th administration.
— David Makhura (@David_Makhura) August 7, 2020
Makhura says this is part of fighting corruption and ensuring that no official is living beyond their means.
In the video below Gauteng Premier David Makhura gives an update on the province’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic
