EFF statement on the R400 million IFMS financial losses by National Treasury

16 October 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calls on Cyril Ramaphosa to release the investigative report on the corruption, fraud, and maladministration concerning the R1 billion contract for the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). We make this call after the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) informed Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance that the corrupt tender, awarded fraudulently to Oracle, has resulted in financial losses exceeding R400 million.

The IMFS contract, awarded in the 2017 financial year, involved the purchase of a system from Oracle with promises of integration and improvements in municipal finances. The system only saw the light of day because corrupt officials within the National Treasury engineered a program that had no material benefits for the government, only to resign later and profit from the same corrupt tender while in the private sector.

Over the past decade, we have witnessed a complete collapse of municipal financial management systems. The majority of municipalities are riddled with corruption, and there are no systems to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure, yet the IFMS was never used.

We are vindicated as the EFF because we have consistently called for greater oversight and scrutiny of the National Treasury. There have been numerous questionable procurements, policies, and appointments of officials in the past that contradict good governance, proper financial management of public funds, and value for money.

The R400 million financial loss, in an economy suffering from severe poverty and joblessness, is a serious illustration of the National Treasury's incompetence. The same National Treasury is misleading Parliament into implementing budget cuts, stifling economic growth, and causing the retrenchment of teachers.

We call on Cyril Ramaphosa to release the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report on IFMS, who received the report in early May this year and has done nothing about it.

The National Treasury has done nothing to demonstrate that this award was not corrupt. Instead, it has undermined the work of the AGSA and the SIU, all in an effort to protect corrupt officials. We call on the AGSA to fully utilise its legislative powers to pursue this matter to its natural conclusion and to open a case with the South African Police Service.

Issued by Leigh-Ann Mathys, National Spokesperson, EFF, 16 October 2024