The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, to expedite our request for Parliament to establish a Covid-19 accountability committee in light of the findings by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AG) on the extent of Covid-19 corruption on the part of government.
The DA repeatedly called for government and Parliament to establish various mechanisms to prevent the inevitable corruption that would ensue during this pandemic. Not only did we ask for an accountability committee in Parliament, but the DA also requested that Treasury establish a Special Inspector General for Covid Expenditure in May.
It is not for nought that the AG concluded that the Covid-19 relief package from government landed in an environment that created ample opportunities for the looting of resources. Looters of state coffers have after all become quite adept at extorting any given opportunity for their own gain to the detriment of society’s most vulnerable.
The following key findings from the AG’s report warrants further investigation and intervention:
- There is a great risk that the Special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) of R350 is not reaching the pockets of those that are most in need of the money. Due to the application process’ limited verification protocols, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is not able to verify that beneficiaries of this SRD grant receive no other form of income.
- A number of Ters payments made to people that are below the legal age of employment, deceased or working in Government, are in need of further investigation.
- The Department of Social Development’s (DSD) controls over the distribution of the food parcels were not always effective, which increased the time from application to distribution. There were incidents of damaged and poorly packaged food parcels, and beneficiaries receiving more food parcels than they were entitled to.
- The Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation failed to provide the AG with a reliable list of the number of water tanks delivered and their locations. This meant that the A-G was unable to determine whether the water tanks were delivered as promised.
- Red flags regarding Covid-19 quarantine sites includes control weaknesses, overpayments, money spent on sites not yet activated, and state-owned properties upgraded for use as quarantine sites not being utilised. While the AG only recently started investigating the procurement processes for appointing contractors to build and supply Covid-19 field hospitals, non-compliance with legislation in the processes have already been identified.
- As of 3 July 2020, only R39 million of the promised Sorts and Arts Covid-19 relief fund had been paid to beneficiaries. The AG found that the process to review applications was too slow, that the original criteria used to evaluate the applications were not specific enough to prevent double-dipping and that the amendments made could result in an unfair process.
There clearly is a need for Parliament to investigate the findings released by the AG on Wednesday to ensure that those members of the Executive who were responsible for overseeing this corruption and maladministration are held fully responsible for their failures.
South Africa has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent extended lockdown. Not only have our citizens been fighting for their lives against the Coronavirus, but they’ve been fighting for survival against those who would rather see millions in their graves, than see money go to the causes they are meant to serve.
The Speaker must therefore do the right thing and urgently allow for an ad hoc committee in Parliament on Covid-19.