An investigation by the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) government into alleged looting of COVID-19 funds has revealed that its Social Development Department squandered more than R15m on 48,000 blankets it did not need, and which it purchased irregularly at the beginning of the lockdown, reports Mail & Guardian. The department’s top officials now face disciplinary action and criminal charges over the blanket scandal and the irregular purchase of personal protective equipment, valued at R13m, at inflated prices.
Premier Sihle Zikalala – who appointed the investigation in response to media reports about the departmental spending spree – announced the steps being taken against the officials.
Those implicated by the probe and who face immediate suspension and sanction include the head of department, the acting diretor general (DG), the acting deputy DG, the chief accounting officer, directors and assistant directors, and supply chain management officials.
Zikalala said, however, that there was “no indication” that the province’s Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, was involved in the irregular procurement, which he described as an act of “looting” of COVID-19 emergency funds. None of the purchases was made directly from manufacturers, but instead from a number of middlemen, who added their mark-up after purchasing the blankets, sanitisers, soap, face cloths and hand pumps from manufacturers.
Zikalala said the report would be handed to the Social Development Department for action, after which criminal charges would be laid and steps taken to recover the department’s losses from the officials and service providers they appointed.
[link url="https://mg.co.za/news/2020-07-21-charges-loom-over-dodgy-r15-million-blanket-deal/"]Full Mail & Guardian report[/link]