Let’s see action, Mr President
It is outrageous that opportunists have cashed in on the pandemic to corruptly profit
The Covid-19 pandemic has meant devastation for economies across the world and South Africans are feeling the pain. Many small businesses, alongside big companies, are struggling to survive. Some have already shut their doors. People have lost their jobs or have to cope with salary cuts.
Government bureaucracy and inefficiency have stymied the timely payout of relief. Against this miserable backdrop, it is even more outrageous that opportunists have cashed in on the pandemic to corruptly profit.
Outrageous, but not surprising. When the government first announced its R500bn Covid-19 package, many analysts, along with home-grown pundits, predicted the corruption that has followed.
The health sector anti-corruption forum has recorded dozens of serious complaints of fraud and has confirmed that the multimillion Covid-19 public education scandal in the OR Tambo district municipality was no anomaly, with 45 health sector cases reportedly being investigated by the Hawks and more than 70 lifestyle audits being conducted on allegedly implicated government officials.
President Cyril Ramaphosa devoted half his address on Thursday night to address such corruption, saying: “What concerns me, and what concerns all South Africans, are those instances where funds are stolen, where they are misused, where goods that we have to procure are overpriced ... where there is corruption and mismanagement of funds.”
He announced measures to bring the culprits to book and reclaim their ill-gotten gains. He said the government had established a coordinating centre to strengthen the efforts of law enforcement agencies, and this centre was probing 36 cases of alleged corruption in distribution of food parcels, social relief grants, and the procurement of medical supplies.
He had signed a proclamation giving the SIU a wide mandate to investigate any unlawful or improper conduct in procurement of goods, work and services related to the state of national disaster in any state institution. These measures are welcome, as is the president’s promise that “every instance of alleged corruption must be thoroughly investigated”.
But, past experience does not provide reason for confidence that these fine words will be followed by results. Whether an international arms deal or funeral scandal, it seems remarkably difficult to force the corrupt to account in SA. All too often investigations become mired in intrigue or legal dillydallying. All too often underlings carry the can for mismanagement and corruption while the masterminds prosper. All too often political connections count for far more than the rule of law.
South Africans will be watching keenly to see if indeed this time round it will be any different.