The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is pushing ahead with its aim to recover funds from irregularly awarded public works contracts to the tune of R1.3-billion via civil court action.

This is according to Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille.

Since 2010, the SIU has been investigating presidential proclamations at the Department of Public Works that are related to the leasing of buildings for state use, the renovation of public buildings and supply chain management concerns. 

So far, De Lille said, there are only 355 outstanding cases out of the 6 978 referred to the unit.

She said 292 criminal cases had been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and only 18 of the referred cases have been finalised. 

A total of 240 cases are yet to be decided upon, and 23 cases have been referred to the South African Revenue Service for further investigation. 

The SIU recommended that 91 disciplinary cases be held for department officials. Eighty-one of those cases have been finalised.

The SIU is still working on recovering R1.3-billion linked to criminal investigations. 

De Lille said her department took the corruption-fighting pledge seriously.

She was speaking at an Infrastructure Built Anti-Corruption Forum pledge signing event.

The forum was launched in 2021 and aims to commit participants in the construction and infrastructure sector to the need to detect, prevent, investigate and resolve corruption cases. 

It includes the NPA, SIU, Hawks, South African Council for the Architectural Profession, Consulting Engineers South Africa, South African Black Technical and Allied Careers Organisation, SA Bureau of Standards, Business Unity South Africa and Human Sciences Research Council.