Opposition parties have been joined by the 240 000-strong Public Servants Association (PSA) in criticising President Cyril Ramaphosa’s six-member Cabinet committee as a means of dealing with widespread Covid-19-related corruption.
Critics suggest the government should leave such criminality to law enforcement agencies.
This comes after mounting anger among South Africans – and professed embarrassment within the African National Congress (ANC) – at corruption involving Covid-19 relief funds and tenders running to hundreds of millions of rand.
Corruption has become a pressing concern for the ANC in the light of the government’s accepting the terms of the R70-billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, which includes undertakings to manage money honestly and transparently.
Ramaphosa and others in the ANC have recently dwelt at length on the selfishness and venality of those involved in corruption, but critics have called out the government for failing to act firmly against the corrupt.
Last week, the Cabinet approved the formation of a special committee on corruption comprising Justice Minister Ronald Lamola; Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu; Finance Minister Tito Mboweni; Police Minister Bheki Cele; Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu; and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
All ministries are to provide information on the names of companies and details of tenders and contracts awarded in national departments, provincial governments and public entities during the period of the national state of disaster. The committee is tasked with investigating these contracts, and providing a report to Ramphosa. Lamola said the information would also be provided to law enforcement agencies, and made available to the public.
But Democratic Alliance (DA) interim leader John Steenhuisen described the committee as ‘window dressing to create the illusion of action’.
‘This toothless gathering of ANC cadres has no real capacity to investigate and prosecute those involved. But more importantly, it has no motivation to do so either,’ he said. It was destined to be another ANC ‘whitewashing exercise’.
He said the DA had, in May, proposed the appointment of a special inspector-general to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to prevent the looting of Covid-19 funds, but this had been ignored.
The Economic Freedom Fighters said in a statement the Cabinet committee was a ‘irrational’ and ‘a waste of time’, and showed Ramaphosa’s poor leadership.
The party said: ‘The executive is the one accused of corruption, wrongdoing, maladministration and negligence, and they, therefore, cannot be the same people who are investigating themselves.’
COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem said: ‘We don’t have any trust in these ministers to investigate anything that has to do with corruption. There are serious allegations against some of their colleagues, who are also suspects.’
IOL reported that the PSA was ‘extremely disappointed’ at the establishment of the committee and insisted that the Special Investigation Unit ‘be allowed to continue its investigations unhindered and that perpetrators be brought to book’.
Appointing a Cabinet committee would not only duplicate investigations, but would likely compromise them.
‘There have been many incidents of high-level corruption in government and state-owned entities; yet these perpetrators have still not been prosecuted and convicted for the looting of state resources,’ the PSA said.
‘South Africa is already being touted as one of the most corrupt countries in the world and the PSA calls on the president to act decisively. The PSA urges the president to abolish this committee and rather invest resources into the SIU to eradicate corruption. The president should also enlist private sector expertise and all other available resources to assist the SIU in its investigations to restore confidence,’ the organisation said.
Positive cases grew in South Africa yesterday by 7 712 to a cumulative total of 553 188 (with 404 568 recoveries). Deaths rose by 310 to 10 210
The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (190 999), followed by the Western Cape (99 588), KwaZulu-Natal (95 648), and the Eastern Cape (82 074).
In other virus-related news
- Nelson Mandela University’s health sciences executive dean and chairperson of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), Professor Lungile Pepeta, has died of Covid-19. He had been heading the CMS since June, following the death from Covid-19 of former chairperson Dr Clarence Mini. Pepeta, a renowned paediatric cardiologist and a key figure in the Eastern Cape’s response to the pandemic, was on a ventilator at the Life St George’s Hospital, and died on Friday, according to Netwerk24; and
- Inkatha Freedom Party veteran Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s family announced yesterday that he had tested positive for Covid-19. A statement said he had tested positive earlier in the week after being told he had been in contact with someone who was infected. Buthelezi, who showed no symptoms, turns 92 later this month.