As south Africa is battling with the covid 19 ,some individuals have taken advantage of the situation by stretching their fingers to loot government funds particularly the R500 billion emergency fund .
however the president of the republic Mr. Cyril Ramaohosa have taken decisive steps to end all forms of corruption taking place during this difficult time,he further authorized the special investigation unit (SIU) to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption that have been raised about looting from the emergency fund.
the looting involves over 90 companies which are currently under investigation by the SIU,the most controversial part is that a son of the president is also involved ,he was awarded a procurement tender of about R6million to buy PPE ,on the other news Mrs Diko Khusela who is a spokesperson of the president her husband was awarded a R6million tender to procure , she has now stepped aside, however Mrs. Diko claims that her special leave has nothing to do with her husband's business and company that is involved with the Gauteng department of health.
It is also in my opinion that we are living in a state whereby people or leaders will commit crime and nobody is holding them accountable for their actions.some leaders in the ruling party have interest of the people but their own and selfish ones.
one other disturbing part is the looting of the UIF relief fund ,it is also alleged that some companies have not yet paid employees ,but instead employers took the money for their own interests or benefit,based on some of the findings by SIU indicates that payments had to be stopped by the government because there was too much corruption going on which included ,overpayments ,underpayments, delays and non payments ,this was revealed by the SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
The Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku and his wife were placed on special leave pending investigation.some civil society groups have written to government authorities over corruption concerns ,they have raised the fact that tenders are awarded to those who are connected to government and the ruling party.
It was also raised by civil groups that there are corruption concerns over food parcels in many provinces including Mpumalanga province in the Nkomazi municipality,so the have requested the president Cyril Ramaphosa to take drastic steps against those accelerating corruption.
the president is also expected to release the list of over 90 companies that received orders to procure PPE and food parcels for the government across the country ,furthermore we want to know which procedure was used in awarding those tenders ,how are they related also with the government and the ruling party.
the government is further expected to ensure that the department of health cooperates with the SIU investigation and some monies need to be returned back to the emergency fund .It is also expected of the government to initiate disciplinary processes against government officials were involved or influenced inappropriate contract awarding ,these were the few demands made by 9 civil groups.
The state we find ourselves in as country is very disturbing in terms of corruption ,we elected people to serve us but they turn everything to be about themselves, fortunately we have civil groups that holds our government accountable this also includes our journalist and opposition parties.
