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It has been six months since the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) embarked on an investigation into irregularities at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform has yet to receive a progress report on the progress of this crucial investigation.

Yesterday, during a briefing by Minister Gugile Nkwinti to the portfolio committee, he admitted that the Land Reform Green Paper did not address the Department’s internal challenges, as “there were too many”.

Given this reluctance by the Minister to provide a clear picture of the challenges facing his Department, I will therefore be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Stone Sizani, requesting that he invite the SIU to appear before Parliament as a matter of urgency, to provide the committee with a status report on the investigation.

The Proclamation issued by President Jacob Zuma in March this year mandated the SIU to investigate allegations of serious financial mismanagement in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, specifically relating to:

the application for and awarding of grants;
the transfer of land;
payment of funds to beneficiaries;
irregular expenditure; and
wasteful and fruitless expenditure.

As the Department’s oversight authority, it is essential that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee be apprised of the current circumstances under which it is operating. It is also imperative that, as committee members go about the business of posing questions to the Minister, requesting information from and referring cases to the Department, we be able to ascertain which specific matters are being addressed as part of the ongoing SIU investigation.

The DA is committed to ensuring that Parliament plays its part in bringing this Department – which has been all but crippled by financial mismanagement, maladministration, and failure to effectively implement its mandate – out of the red, and on the road to full functionality. However, this can only be achieved once we know the full extent of the problems currently plaguing the Department.