File: A senior government official and various service providers in KwaZulu-Natal were reportedly awarded government tender contracts worth millions of rand to repair the province’s roads infrastructure. Photo: Flickr/Cory Doctorow
JOHANNESBURG – Anti-corruption measures need to be strengthened to eradicate graft and fraud, the South African National Civic Organisation said on Saturday.
In the wake of the seizure this week of assets worth over R540 million from a syndicate allegedly involving a senior government official, Sanco called for lifestyle audits to be introduced to curb looting of state resources.
“The scourge of corruption is a threat to our democracy that must be uprooted and those behind it unmasked to face the wrath of the law,” Sanco spokesman Jabu Mahlangu said.
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Mahlangu called for anti-corruption measures to be strengthened to eradicate fraud and graft. Deviations from tendering processes had to be investigated for the state to recoup resources that might have been looted.
“The looting of state resources deprives our communities [of] quality service delivery and undermines the objective to eradicate of the legacy of apartheid [which] perpetuates poverty and inequalities,” he said.
Mahlangu commended the police anti-corrupt task team investigating allegations of theft, fraud, and corruption at the government department concerned in Pietermaritzburg.
The senior government official and various service providers in KwaZulu-Natal were reportedly awarded government tender contracts worth millions of rand to repair the province’s roads infrastructure.
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The investigation allegedly discovered that the official and several service providers had fraudulently secured several tenders for supplying goods and services for plant and earth moving equipment, among other things, he said.
It was also allegedly discovered that the service providers invoiced and charged for services that were never rendered; the invoices where then followed by corrupt payments made to or on behalf of the department official. Several contracts were reportedly awarded to various companies.
The official was responsible for awarding contracts.
African News Agency
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