Johannesburg – Amid alleged resignations and slow investigations within Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi's anti-corruption unit, the DA has called for the establishment of a highly proficient internal investigation unit to speed up probes into corruption in the province.
In what was supposed to have been a simple case looking into alleged fraud after a Gauteng Department of Health official was registered as a director of a daycare NGO that received R2.4 million from the provincial Department of Social Development, the anti-corruption unit allegedly took more than eight years to resolve the matter.
Jack Bloom, a member of the oversight committee on the premier's office and legislature, said this was one of many cases that the premier's unit had investigated for far too long with unsatisfactory results.
In this case in particular, he highlighted how, even though investigations had started in July 2014, the matter had only been finalised in November 2022.
“The project took a long time to be completed as it was initially not allocated timely due to capacity constraints. When the project was ultimately allocated to the investigation team, they resigned while the allegations were still being investigated.
“The project could not be reallocated on time as the other team members were also finalising other projects that were assigned to them, resulting in further delays. This project was then allocated to the newly recruited director, who also resigned while the investigation was under execution phase.”
Bloom said other examples of the shoddy pace of the anti-corruption unit involved a case of gross misconduct, theft, and corruption, which, although initiated in November 2017, was only completed in 2022.
In addition, he said, the disciplinary process against those implicated had not yet been finalised.
In another case involving procurement irregularities, Bloom said it was revealed that investigations were started in May 2018 and only completed in October last year. However, management has not been able to implement the recommendations of the unit.
Bloom said the department or unit frequently blamed capacity constraints or high turnover of provincial forensic audits staff as a result of resignations.
However, he said, what concerned him the most was that many officials were suspended for years on full pay because of delays in investigations.
“This chaotic investigation unit where staff come and go is shameful. It shows that fighting corruption is not a high priority for the ANC in Gauteng, which pursues cadre deployment and protects its buddies in high positions.”
Bloom said that, for this reason, the DA believed that the implementation of a highly proficient internal investigation unit that could do speedy probes to root out corruption in the provincial government would be the best solution.
The Star reached out to the premier’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, for comment but did not receive it by the time of publication.