SIU probes Bhisho and EC councils

Public procurement a concern

THE provincial departments of social development and education and Buffalo City Metro (BCM), Alfred Nzo and Amahlathi municipalities are all being probed by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for dodgy affairs, corruption, malpractice and maladministration.

This was revealed yesterday morning to the dozens of government officials, and public and private sector stakeholders gathered at the East London ICC for the SIU stakeholder engagement forum.

The forum was held to raise awareness into the work done by the SIU in the province to fight corruption, malpractice and maladministration.

SIU acting regional head Claudia O’Brien said the most common form of corruption was in public procurement.

“It’s not only at the top level but right on the ground as well. This is how officials are able to defraud government in the way that they do. It is happening at municipal level, nationally.”

O’Brien said they were also unearthing a lot of smaller forms of corruption, such as the issuing of licences, bribery of traffic officials, and fraudulent disbursement of social grants.

The SIU investigations were started after a proclamation issued by President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma ordered the corruptionfighting unit to conduct lifestyle audits of all officials implicated in alleged wrongdoing.

Head of the SIU Advocate Andy Mothibi said : “We are hard at work to root out corruption wherever it manifests itself, with the aim of achieving a corruption-free society.”

Premier Phumulo Masualle, delivering his keynote address, said corruption stripped the most needy of their dignity, and that the province was hard at work “to secure sparklingly clean administration”.