Following a proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been given the go-ahead to investigate allegations of corruption at Mpumalanga Health. SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the proclamation also allows the unit to recover any financial losses suffered by the department, should any wrongdoing be found, reports The Citizen.
“The investigation will look at transactions that took place between 1 January 2018 and 28 January 2022, the date of publication of the Proclamation, and transactions that either took place before January 2018 or after January 2022 but relevant to, connected with the same persons, entities or contracts being investigated. Evidence pointing to criminal conduct, which may be uncovered during the investigation, will be referred to the NPA, as well as the Hawks for further action,” Kganyago said.
In August 2020 the DA called on Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane and the SIU to urgently “investigate Mpumalanga COVID-preneurs who are milking departments dry”. DA Mpumalanga MPL Jane Sithole said a provincial procurement discloser report for the first quarter of the year showed how the purchase of surgical masks, thermometers, Vodacom tablets, food parcels and branded umbrellas became “a breeding ground for COVID-19 corruption by the various Mpumalanga government departments through highly inflated figures”.
The Citizen article – Mpumalanga health department to be investigated by SIU (Open access)
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