Civil society organisations angry over PPE corruption reports

31st July 2020 By: News24Wire

Civil society organisations angry over PPE corruption reports

President Cyril Ramaphosa using PEE

A number of South Africa's foremost civil society organisations have expressed their anger and disappointment over reports of widespread corruption involving funds meant to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint statement, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Corruption Watch, Freedom Under Law, Johannesburg Against Injustice, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Patriotic Movement, the South African Communist Party in Gauteng, and Section 27 said it was troubling that in Gauteng alone, some 91 companies who received purchase orders from the Department of Health were under investigation.

"We commend the Gauteng provincial government's decision to give priority to a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement processes.

"We also welcome [Thursday's] statements by [Gauteng] Premier David Makhura indicating that Health MEC Bandile Masuku has been placed on leave pending investigation, in light of media allegations involving Royal Bhaca and an alleged PPE contract," the joint statement, issued by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, read.

"We acknowledge that the Premier has requested a support team from the national Department of Health to assist the province, as Gauteng reaches its peak infection rate and MEC Jacob Mamabolo takes over in an acting position from Masuku."

Officials asked to 'step aside'

News24 reported earlier that the ANC in Gauteng had asked Masuku and his wife, City of Johannesburg shared services MMC Loyiso Masuku, to "step aside", along with President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Khusela Diko, over the R125-million personal protective equipment tender awarded to King Madzikane II Diko's Royal Bacha projects.

The party's provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said the provincial executive committee (PEC) had resolved that the trio must take a leave of absence while the African National Congress's integrity commission investigated claims made against them in the media.

According to the joint statement, "covidpreneurship" was occurring at the same time that millions of South Africans were facing job losses and increased poverty.

"There are harrowing stories daily of malnutrition; of retrenchments, business closures and of communities being unable to access healthcare and other services. Our country has had to borrow money from the IMF [International Monetary Fund] to deal with the crisis.

'Covid corruption makes us sick!'

"Yet, for the ruthless 'covidpreneur', and those within state and other institutions who enable corruption, this is simply an opportunity to exploit the situation. These are people who are unashamed about stealing money meant for protective gear for nurses and doctors, for food parcels for the poor, for workers who find themselves unemployed, for hospitals which require beds and ventilators, for schools that need to ensure that pupils still learn, and for communities in desperate need of services. Covid-19 corruption makes us sick!"

The organisations want the Gauteng government to:

"We urge the Gauteng provincial government to give serious consideration to these recommendations and set the tone that corruption will not be tolerated," the organisations added.

"We also enjoin other provinces to adopt measures such as these to prevent and tackle Covid-19 corruption within their administrations. Similar recommendations were made by civil society organisations early on in the pandemic to the Presidency to prevent the very situation that we now find ourselves in.

"We strongly believe that action must follow Ramaphosa's commitments to crack down on Covid-19 corruption for the public to be convinced that government is indeed intent on tackling the problem."