Corruption in South Africa

[wynn]

The premier in Limpopo etc.

I heard that Cassel has resigned with immediate effect??

[Dave A]

And now the arms deal commission of enquiry has been postponed once again.

Is anyone surprised?

[ians]

These investigations cost lots of money, tax payers money. they are forever setting up groups of people to do investigations, sometime I wonder if it is not just to keep the mates busy or a way to redistribute money via other channels.

[Dave A]

In the handbook of political survival tricks -

When you're as guilty as sin and all seems lost, stall for time by appointing a commission of enquiry.
Thereafter to ensure the matter dies a slow death - appoint a committee.
Repeat as necessary.

[ians]

A way of creating employment and looking after your mates, all expenses paid. Lucky the UK are stupid enough to donate money to fund our side line wheeling and dealing, just in cas ewe blow all the tax payers money.

I wonder if these enquiries don't cost more than the actual deed itself, anyway you look at it, someone is paying, either 1 st world country with tooo much spare boodle to waste or us, the tax payer.

[AndyD]

You have a point about the cost of the enquiries, maybe they should start making the investigators and the enquirey boards tender for the work....just to keep the costs down obviously

[Dave S]

And the next act at Circus SA, Jacob Zuma will take an anti-HIV shower on the back of a white elephant...

[Blurock]

...and the winner is.....!

Just imagine how much money the legal fraternity is making with all the corruption cases, consulting fees and enquiries involving government officials!
Imagine if all of that money could have been spent on stimulating the economy and creating jobs.

Imagine if we could have R246 million to spend on building new schools so that the next generation can be educated.

We would have been able to build 15 schools!!!

[Butch Hannan]

Have a look at the attached article which comes from the mercury which puts a figure on money that has not been properly spent. The question I would like to ask is whether the services of consultants are put out to tender. Government should rather appoint people to do the actual work instead of paying someone to tell them how to do the work. Until Zuma is locked up for the arms deal this will never stop.

Corruption under ANC’s watch destroying SA
October 16 2013 at 12:00pm
By Mangosuthu Buthelezi
Comment on this story
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Independent Newspapers
IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has come under fire from the ANC. File photo: Ross Jansen
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• ANC self-destructing through greed - Phosa
• Phosa comments like ‘deja vu’: Buthelezi
Apparently, the ANC has made no progress in learning about governance in the past 19 years, says Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Durban - It was a case of déjà vu when former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa announced that the ANC must stop blaming apartheid and start looking to the high levels of corruption as the reason for its problems. Just six months ago, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel issued the same warning: stop blaming apartheid, and find the real reason for the lack of service.
At the time, minister Manuel pointed out that the ANC-led government could have said in 1994, 1995 and 1996 “we don’t have the experience”. But with almost two decades of democracy under the belt, that is no longer an excuse.
The trouble is, over the past three years the government has spent R102 billion on consultants.
The Presidency alone allocated R83.5 million to consultant costs in this year’s budget.
Thus both Mr Phosa and minister Manuel hit the nail on the head.
Every year, billions of rand that are earmarked for development projects are wasted, mismanaged or stolen under the ANC’s leadership.
The actual work is being done by consultants, at a further cost of billions of rand.
Apparently, the ANC has made no progress in learning about governance in the past 19 years.
Earlier this year, the SA Institute of Race Relations considered the auditor-general’s report on “unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure” within provincial departments, which amounted to R24.8bn.
The institute translated this astronomical figure into terms we can all understand.
An amount of R24.8bn could have built 400 new schools; or 120 Nkandlas. That alone speaks of the ANC’s priorities.
An amount of R24.8bn could have funded every single university student enrolled right now.
Tomorrow’s labour market would not lose a single skilled contributor simply because a lack of funds prematurely ended their studies.
An amount of R24.8bn could have built 550 new prisons, ensuring that overcrowding no longer prompted lenient sentences and early parole. It could have built 24 children’s hospitals, of the same standard as the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. But none of this happened, because the R24.8bn was poured down the drain by provincial departments.
It is no surprise that the ANC has managed to build only 33 schools in KwaZulu-Natal since taking power almost 10 years ago.
To match the 6 000 schools built under the IFP, it would need to rein in corruption and waste. But it lacks the political will to do that.
According to Corruption Watch, education is a corruption hot spot. And according to the World Economic Forum, South Africa ranks second from last in the world for maths and science education.
There is a link between these two facts, for as long as corruption is allowed to flourish, we will be hamstrung to meet the challenge of improving education, or building houses, or land reform, or crime reduction, or job creation.
I mention land reform because farms to the value of R59m have already been lost through corruption in the government’s land reform programme.
Further farms to the value of R52m are under investigation.
Corruption reaches from the highest levels, right down to municipalities.
According to the auditor-general, fruitless and wasteful expenditure within South Africa’s municipalities has more than doubled in a year, to reach R568m.
Irregular expenditure stands at R9.82bn. As the auditor-general put it: “Overall audit outcomes (have) regressed” over the past three years.
During my 19-year tenure as chief minister of the KwaZulu-government, not a single allegation of corruption was levelled at my administration.
We had, and still have in the IFP, zero tolerance for corruption at any level. IFP-run municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal since 1994 have offered an example of clean audits, something which only nine of our country’s 278 municipalities achieved this year.
According to the 2011 Census, almost a third of South Africans live below the breadline. And unemployment is increasing. There is thus great need, which is becoming greater. So, beyond well-paid consultants, one wonders who is doing the real work of meeting South Africans’ needs.
The truth is, it’s ordinary South Africans who are helping our people. Grandmothers take in orphaned children, whether related to them or not. Small businesses plough back into community development. And NGOs fight a constant battle against closure, as they counsel rape victims, provide safe havens for abused children, give skills training to the unemployed, and meet a myriad other pressing needs.
The financial challenges faced by NGOs should really be met by the government, in recognition of the fact that these NGOs are doing the work of the government where the government fails.
Social Development should be supporting our NGOs. But this department lost R135.6m when 43 404 of its public servants irregularly accessed social grants they were not entitled to.
As Phosa said, corruption is destroying the legacy of the ANC. But that isn’t our biggest concern. It’s also destroying our country.
* Mangosuthu Buthelezi is the president of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
The Mercury

[Butch Hannan]

This is what happens when you award a "procurement contract" to someone to do the work that should be done by Government.


EduSolutions in dodgy Mpumalanga contract: DA

July 9 2012 at 08:55am
By Political Bureau

The DA says it has received information that EduSolutions, the company at the centre of the Limpopo textbook saga, was also awarded a multimillion-rand tender in Mpumalanga under questionable circumstances.

DA Mpumalanga leader Anthony Benadie said EduSolutions had been awarded a tender to supply and distribute pupil/teacher supply materials, including textbooks, in Mpumalanga.

“According to our information, it is clear that the supply chain division in the Mpumalanga education department received and captured an EduSolutions tender document nearly a month before the bid committee awarded the contract,” he said.

“Furthermore, the DA has reliably been informed that, according to the agreement between the education department and EduSolutions, this company makes its money from being paid a percentage of the funds ‘saved’ by the department, arising from discounts afforded to them by suppliers.”

Benadie said that, according to information in his possession, the department’s chief financial officer had unilaterally decided that 60 percent of all discounts provided by book suppliers would go to EduSolutions.

“Reliable sources have confirmed that the CFO has classified EduSolutions as a priority debtor. To this end, EduSolutions was paid over R100 million while other debtors’ invoices, ranging from a few thousand to over R4m, continue to pile up despite being outstanding for up to five months.”

Benadie said that to get clarity on the matter the DA would submit formal parliamentary questions to Mpumalanga education MEC Regina Mhaule, asking her to divulge and explain all payments made to EduSolutions.

Mpumalanga provincial government spokesman Mosia Lebona confirmed that EduSolutions was contracted by the province, but referred Independent Newspapers to the education department.

Mpumalanga education department spokesman Jasper Zwane said he was in not in a position to comment and could look into the matter only on Monday.

The claims come after weekend reports that EduSolutions founder Shaun Battleman was a supporter of the Jacob Zuma Education RDP Trust. The company had contracts to buy and deliver textbooks to schools in Limpopo, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The Limpopo contract was terminated following legal opinion that it was flawed, contributing to a six-month delay in the delivery of textbooks.

President Jacob Zuma announced a high-level task team last week to find out who was responsible for the delay, and recommend steps to be taken.