Ramaphosa must explain anti-corruption measures

19 April 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa undertook to take decisive action to ensure that corruption, theft and fraud are not committed with the emergency funds, amounting to billions of rand, that are earmarked for the state of disaster in KwaZulu-Natal.

He said the same about the Covid-19 emergency relief fund, and yet the extent of the corruption was vast. Therefore, the FF Plus is asking the President to explain in detail the measures that he is referring to.

He stated that the Auditor-General and National Treasury will be involved in applying the funds – but he said that regarding the Covid-19 funds as well.

In addition to this, he also made mention of "other role-players" as well as government departments. And that is precisely the problem. He is paving the way for possible corruption.

An example of where corruption could be committed is with the coupons that will be made available to people for re-building their homes. The party has no objection to the idea in principle, however, one cannot help but wonder how it will be implemented.

It is comparable to the Covid-19 food parcels. Officials exploited the situation for self-enrichment and in some cases, people had to bribe officials to get food parcels.

That raises the question of who will control and distribute the abovementioned coupons?

During the national drought-related state of disaster, which was in effect until late in 2020, livestock feed that was supposed to be distributed among farmers in need was sold by service providers and officials, so those who were supposed to receive it, did not.

That state of disaster offered no real relief to those who suffered losses due to the disaster.

The regulations issued in terms of the state of disaster must be in line with effectively offering support and providing relief to the actual victims of the disaster.

There are numerous other ways in which these funds could be looted and, thus, the FF Plus wants to know what exactly the measures, that President Ramaphosa will implement to prevent it, entail.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 19 April 2022