Premier must also clean house amidst corruption busting arrests
12 October 2021
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is calling on the premier, Dr Zamani Saul, to clean up his own office, following the embarrassing arrest of one of his most senior advisors, Steven Jonkers, by the Hawks on Friday.
Jonkers, alongside directors of Defensor Electronic Security Systems, Gert van Rooyen and Claudius Peterson, are all facing tender fraud charges relating to a contract that was awarded by the Department of Health in 2017, when Jonkers served as the acting Head of Department.
According to recent reports, a total of 138 new investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have been opened in the Northern Cape since February. We are pleased that these cases are not just gathering dust, as has been evident by the recent arrests of a number of senior officials in Departments of Health and Economic Development, on varying criminal charges.
We have long said that, after years of systemic corruption, the provincial government is rotten to the core. We welcome all attempts to clean up state institutions and stop the looting to ensure that service delivery is sustained.
As the crime busting wave in the Northern Cape continues, government departments should not, however, juts take a step back and leave it to the Hawks to swoop in on corruption.
The premier, Dr Zamani Saul, in particular must waste no time in cleaning up office.
Following the embarrassment of the close call with his special advisor, Norman Shushu, whose wife almost walked away with a multi-million rand tender from the South Africa Police Service for personal protective equipment, Dr Saul now faces the further humiliation of having one of his most senior staffers, to whom he entrusted very big economic projects, up for corruption charges.
The premier must immediately suspend Jonkers, pending the outcome of the case and put a halt to cadre deployment within his own office.
The influence of connected cliques within government must be broken so that government can rebuild its integrity, its bank balances and service delivery to all.
Issued by Harold McGluwa, DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader, 12 October 2021
