Seeds for Covid-19 corruption in Gauteng Department of Health were sown years ago already
23 March 2021
During the debate on the annual report of the Department of Health for the 2019/2020 financial year, the FF Plus accused the Gauteng ANC government of sowing the seeds for the extensive Covid-19 corruption that occurred last year during previous years.
The Covid-19 corruption stemmed from the previous two years' lack of oversight over tenders and procurements.
The Auditor-General (AG) did bring to the Department's attention that many of the tender and procurement procedures were not adhered to in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 financial years.
According to the provincial Legislature’s Committee on Health's report, oversight over tenders and procurements declined significantly in 2019/2020 already. This trend explains why there was an opportunity for large-scale fraud to take place during the Covid-19 tender processes in 2020.