Zuma OKs SIU farms scrutiny

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has ordered the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate fraud and corruption in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.

Presidency spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said the president had, in terms of the SIU and Special Tribunals Act, signed a proclamation authorising the unit to investigate certain matters relating to the affairs of the department.

Among the areas sights are:

● The acquisition by the department of certain farms and whether the identification, selection and appointment of strategic partners and beneficiaries for such farms was done in a manner that was fair, transparent, equitable, and compliant with applicable legislation;

● Appropriation of funds from the department’s recapitalisation and development programme in relation to the farms mentioned above; and

● Whether there has been any improper or unlawful conduct by officials of the department or any other person or entity in relation to the aforementioned allegations.

It is not clear which provinces the SIU will target.

The department’s spokeswoman, Linda Page, could not confirm them.

Page only confirmed that the president had signed the proclamation to authorised the investigation of the department.

The National African Farmers Union’s Eastern Cape president, Pumza Vitshima, said they had been waiting for such investigations.

“This department is rotten with corruption in terms of allocating farms and there’s a lot of favouritism. We welcome this by President Zuma,” Vitshima said.

Last year the Dispatch reported that a number of officials from the department’s Eastern Cape offices were suspended amid investigations into a number of fraud allegations.

Many laptops and cellphones were seized. — in the SIU’s