.
.
The KwaZulu-Natal government and law-enforcement agencies have upped the ante against fraud and corruption, with more than 500 people arrested in the province for fraud involving R90 million of government contracts over the past year.
This was revealed by Premier Zweli Mkhize during his R600m budget speech in the legislature in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday.
Mkhize said there was widespread corruption around government contracts, with tenders given to undeserving entrepreneurs who advanced cash instead of quality to win deals. He said corruption was a “cancer” which could harm SA’s reputation locally and overseas, and could make people lose faith in the future of the country.
He said the people arrested included government officials and business people for defrauding items related to supply-chain management issues and procuring services for government contracts worth billions of rand.
The consolidated statistics from the SAPS, National Prosecuting Authority and Special Investigating Unit in KZN, painted a disturbing picture of massive attempts by officials and entrepreneurs to defraud the government.
Figures tabled by Mkhize in the legislature – covering the period between April 2011 and March 2012 – indicate that a total of 594 dockets involving contracts worth more than R100m were registered in the period under review.
Out of these (594 dockets), 517 cases went to court involving contracts worth over R90m. Mkhize said more than 500 convictions for a total value of R28m in fraud and corruption were achieved, with two acquittals. A total of R727 000 had been recovered so far.
Mkhize said 192 cases of fraud and corruption had been referred for disciplinary hearing, with five cases having been referred to the Assets Forfeiture Unit. He said this indicated that his government continued to take a firm stand to uproot and fight corruption.
“Fraud and corruption have a potential to cause such a massive drain of resources that it poses a risk service delivery and (could) cause our democracy to flounder,” he said.
He described fraud and corruption as “a cancer” which, if not arrested, had potential to irreparably harm the international standing of SA and its reputation among it citizens, thus making people lose faith in the future of the country.
“Fighting corruption is about the restoration of the fibre of our society,” he said.
“As stated on numerous occasions, there is widespread corruption associated with the supply-chain and procurement sections, fraudulent issuing of tenders and contracts to unskilled and undeserving entrepreneurs who advance cash, not proof of quality and capacity to perform, as the basis of successful award of contracts,” he said.
He said all contracts should pass the scrupulous test of value for money through a fair and transparent competitive process.
“Fighting corruption needs both the impeccable integrity of those in whose hands the authority and resources of the state are entrusted by the public, as well as the culture of collective accountability, transparency and honour from those who control the levers of the state machinery,” he said. – The Mercury
