Call to ‘purge’ corrupt officials
Cogta MEC says lack of ethics a national challenge
PUBLIC money must be handled with extra caution and due care because unethical behaviour in government is engulfing the country, says the Eastern Cape’s cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC.
Corrupt officials should be “purged”, Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa added. He was addressing a CogtaDaily Dispatch stakeholders session at the East London Golf Club last night.
Xasa urged politicians and officials in all government spheres to be ethical when dealing with public funds.
Abusing public funds was unacceptable and detrimental to service delivery, he added, and all departments and municipalities across the country needed to appoint ethics officers to enforce good practice in government departments and municipalities.
Among his audience were municipal and departmental officials, mayors and traditional leaders, including AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Sigcau, the newly elected provincial House of Traditional Leaders’ chairman Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana and his deputy Nkosi Langa Mavuso. Provincial auditor-general Sithembele Pieters was also there.
Xasa did not mince his words in emphasising the importance of good governance in both provincial departments and municipalities.
He said those who were corrupt “should be purged”.
“When we speak about procurement, everybody gets excited, but we need to be careful when dealing with supply chain management (SCM) issues as SCM, if managed wrongly, can collapse any government institution.”
He said his department was doing its utmost to deal with wasteful and fruitless expenditure, which was “going up” in provincial municipalities.
Xasa also urged senior municipal officials to desist from willy-nilly, unthinking use of public funds to defend against litigators.
He said his department was targeting various provincial municipalities that had wasted public funds in unnecessary litigation.
In the next two weeks, Xasa said, his department would “touch base with municipalities who do as they please when dealing with public funds”.
Xasa also urged all provincial government departments and municipalities to prioritise local economic development (LED) and make a point of “buying local”.
He said his department was supporting the province’s 39 municipalities with LED, and added: “We want municipalities to take the lead.” —