The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mpumalanga calls on the Provincial Department of Public Works to immediately suspend all officials who are implicated in the damning personal protective equipment (PPE) scandal and launch their own investigation.
Just this week, the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), the Directorate for Priority Crime Prevention (HAWKS), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) seized R52.6 million worth of various assets belonging to 22 suspects – which include six senior management officials, service providers and entities linked to an alleged PPE corruption with the Mpumalanga Department of Public Works.
The seizure follows a preservation court order from the High Court of South Africa, Mpumalanga Division, in Mbombela.
An earlier investigation by the authorities uncovered multiple instances of corruption, fraud, theft, and money laundering committed by the senior managers and service providers in connection with the procurement of PPE within the department.
The DA welcomes the action taken by the authorities because it is really heart breaking that government officials and their service providers had the nerve to steal PPE monies – while a number of people lost their lives in Mpumalanga during the COVID-19 era because they had no access to PPE materials that could have saved them.
We call on this department to do the right thing and immediately suspend the implicated officials. Suspending these officials will give the department enough time to do the internal investigation without any interference and sabotage. The DA also calls on the rest of the Provincial Government, including departments and municipalities, to blacklist all the implicated service providers and entities.
In 2022, the SIU reported that Mpumalanga government departments (including Health and Education) and municipalities lost R520 million in Covid-19-related malfeasance; but that report was swept under the carpet by former Premier, Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane. The report is still not yet released publicly even though the DA challenged the former Premier to do so.
The DA will not let this matter go away, so we will put pressure on newly appointed Premier, Mandla Ndlovu, to release the SIU report so that those implicated in the lost R520 million must face the full might of the law.