The DA welcomes the criminal charges against a joint venture company, departmental officials and a chief engineer who may have been involved in the Mpumalanga Agri-Hub scandal.
The charges were laid by the HOD of Agriculture, Cain Chunda, following pressure from the DA. We recently reported that these Agri-Hubs remain a pipe dream after almost a decade and R60 million later.
We call on the police to investigate without fear or favour, but with speed as the Agri-Hubs of both Mkhondo and Dr. JS Moroka Local Municipalities have become white elephants worth millions.
These Agri-Hubs were supposed to help commercial and small scale farmers supply fresh produce to the Mpumalanga International Fresh Produce Market for local and international distribution. Currently, farmers are struggling to distribute their fresh produce and are still waiting for the Agri-Hubs to materialise.
Initially, DARDLA announced that construction of these projects would take only 12 months. It has been 9 years now, and there are no signs that the projects will be operational anytime soon.
The DA welcomes the investigation
We are also happy that officials from government are acting on matters the DA raises. Just last week, lifts at the Standerton Hospital were fixed and finally working after the DA had put pressure on officials from the Public Works and the Department of Health.