National Treasury adopts DA’s proposal that will put an end to the looting of disaster relief funds

16 May 2022

Through the hard work of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Gauteng residents will now be afforded additional protection from potential looters should we experience another disaster like the Covid-19 pandemic. During the last two years, this province has been hardest hit by the looting of Covid-19 relief funds and the enrichment of only a few individuals through the awarding of tenders for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Many of the DA’s recommendations tabled during the negotiation mandate relating to the Division of Revenue Bill (DORA) during a recent Finance Portfolio Committee were accepted. This bill governs the transfer of funds to Provincial Governments and Municipalities.

One of the main recommendations made by the DA was that National Treasury (NT) should develop mechanisms to ensure that funds earmarked for Covid-19 and disaster relief are expended for their intended purpose. We are delighted that the NT has now introduced a manual reporting system to monitor how Covid-19 funds are spent and the requirement to submit a weekly report.

This will result in transparency and accountability on how the relief funds are being spent. By so doing, there will be no room for corruption, and this will allow proper service delivery to take place.

The DA will continue to monitor the progress in terms of the implementation of our recommendations as this will help to improve the quality of life of our residents and ensure that they see the benefits of investment by the state rather than the money being lost to corruption and waste.

Issued by Patrick Atkinson, DA Gauteng Spokesperson Finance, 16 May 2022