Gauteng residents denied service delivery as officials defraud G Fleet of R16 million

13 April 2023

Gauteng has become a haven of corruption as officials continue to loot the public purse at the expense of service delivery with no consequence management in place to ensure that they are held accountable. In 2016, the former Deputy Director of G Fleet in Gauteng, Henrietta Khanyile and Siboniso Mthembu, allegedly defrauded the G Fleet of R16 million.

A case against the two suspects was only opened in February 2023, despite the Gauteng Department of Roads, Logistics and Transport being aware of these corruption incidents that occurred seven years ago.

It is reported that the duo wrongfully leased vehicles through G Fleet for their personal use, they falsely reported accidents and damages that occurred which led to irregular repairs being done.

This misconduct has negatively affected the G Fleet branches in KZN and the Eastern Cape which these two were involved in.

The internal investigation was conducted in 2016. Khanyile resigned the same year due to unknown reasons.

If this department was serious about rooting out corruption, Khanyile should not have been allowed to resign before being held to account.

Her resignation was a way to escape from accounting for the millions of rands stolen from G Fleet that was meant for service delivery.

Khanyile and Mthembu have appeared in court and their matter has been postponed. Delayed action in dealing with this case only adds to the existing issues of understaffing at the G Fleet Cape Town branch.

This is one of many cases where corrupt government officials are allowed to resign before facing the internal disciplinary processes and the might of the law.

For far too long, the DA has been demanding that this current Gauteng government must implement consequence management to safeguard public funds and ensure that corrupt officials are held accountable. By so doing, it will help to fight corruption, enforce accountability, transparency, and good governance.

The DA has already submitted questions to the Gauteng MEC for Roads, Logistics and Transport, Kedibone Diale Tlabela, to establish the exact amount of the money stolen and what measures have been put in place to ensure that corruption of any magnitude never takes place in G-Fleet again.

We will also continue to exert pressure on the Gauteng Provincial Government to ensure that there is consequence management in place to curb corruption.

Corruption is the number one enemy of service delivery, and we will never allow corrupt officials to escape accountability.

Issued by Evert Du Plessis, DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Roads, Logistics and Transport, 13 April 2023