Until now. Last month she suspended nine officials on the strength of an Auditor General's report, and I hope this will be just the start of a cleanup process to root out corruption entirely.
You can read the letter here or below for non-subscribers to BusinessLive.
Minister Zulu must release the Auditor General’s report on corruption
in her department and initiate lifestyle audits on all her officials
25th April 2019
Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu, must
release the Auditor General’s report on its investigation into corruption by
officials in her department which was finalised in March. She must also
initiate lifestyle audits on all department staff, many of whom are living
lifestyles way beyond what their salaries would afford.
The Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development
suspected corrupt activities in certain programmes after conducting oversight
visits to Limpopo, KZN and Mpumalanga. At the committee’s insistence the
department called in the AG to investigate. On the strength of the report,
Minister Zulu issued immediate suspension notices to nine department officials but
is now refusing to release the report or name the offending officials.
Staff from the AG’s office presented the report’s findings to
members of the portfolio committee last week at a specially convened meeting in
Centurion.
The investigation probed allegations of corruption in the
Black Business Supplier Development Programme and the Cooperative Incentive
Scheme for the financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17.
During this period the department approved R699 million
worth of BBSBD and R150 million worth of CIS grant applications. Of those the
AG sampled in its investigation, up to 65% of the BBSDP grants and 50% of the
CIS grants we suspect or the supposed beneficiaries did not exist. There was
overwhelming evidence of collusion between officials, service providers and
grant recipients, leading to the department initiating disciplinary proceedings
and laying criminal charges against the individuals concerned.
The department inherited these programmes from the
Department of Trade and Industry, along with the officials running them. They
have both been operating for over ten years and have distributed billions of
rands of grants since then.
In their presentation to the Committee, the AG staff
expressed the view that a wider investigation into all the department’s
programmes and entities should be conducted, including Seda and Sefa. Seda
alone disburses R500 million of grants every year which are ripe to be
corrupted.
Government has promised a naming and shaming approach to
corruption and the identity of numerous alleged government officials have been revealed
in recent months at the Zondo commission into state capture and through other
media revelations.
It is unacceptable that money budgeted for deserving small
businesses and cooperatives has been diverted into the pockets of corrupt
officials who are now being shielded. Furthermore, Minister Zulu must ensure
that these officials are not being scapegoated, protecting possible corruption
and malfeasance by more senior officials in her department, many of whom came
from the DTI where the corruption started.
This saga places a sorry marker at the end of Minister
Zulu’s five year term. If she had been on the ball and taken action on the
portfolio committee’s urgings sooner, millions of rands could have been saved
instead of being used to buy fancy clothes, cars and houses for corrupt
government officials.
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