Durban — The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called for the prosecution of other KZN Department of Education (DoE) officials linked to personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement scams.
This comes after the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court convicted and sentenced the financial manager at the KZN DoE, Lungelo Stewart Mhlongo, 41, for contravention of the Public Administration Management Act.
The court heard that Mhlongo failed to disclose his personal interests to the department.
He was arrested in July last year and appeared in court several times until he was sentenced to two years imprisonment which is suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of the same offence during the period of suspension.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) welcomed the conviction and sentencing which came after the SIU’s referral to the National Prosecuting Authority after uncovering evidence pointing to criminal activity during the PPE investigation.
DA KZN spokesperson on education, Dr Imran Keeka said that the DA also welcomed the prosecution of Mhlongo, but the big question now is whether the official will remain in the employment of the department or not.
Keeka said that the DA in KZN was the first to raise the alarm around PPE procurement corruption within the DoE during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also the DA who exposed the exorbitant prices being paid by the DoE for items available at a fifth of the price from almost any retail outlet during that period.
He said that at the time, KZN’s ANC-run government tried to defend the indefensible. Not only was the DA ridiculed for its allegations – which were subsequently confirmed as true – former Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu also made excuse after excuse and tried every trick in the book to evade accountability.
“While this successful prosecution must be hailed, it is not enough. One swallow does not make a summer,” Keeka said.
“The DA is aware that there are several individuals – including senior officials – who are also implicated in the SIU’s findings. These officials are trotting around, safe in the knowledge that nothing will happen to them. This as the new MEC Mbali Fraser – as was the case with the predecessor – refuses to act on the SIU’s recommendation that they be charged,” he said.
Keeka said that it is untenable that those who were more interested in lining their own pockets rather than ensuring the wellbeing of KZN’s pupils – during a global health pandemic – should escape justice.
He said that the DA sincerely hopes that the SIU will stop waiting for MEC Fraser to act.
“Steps must be taken to have those still implicated dragged to court where it must be decided whether they are guilty of robbing the public purse,” concluded Keeka.
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