R38m state scam

CORRUPTION has become the norm in our government, and it appears that public servants are outdoing each other in looting state coffers.

The latest is the R38 million state-vehicle scam discussed during hearings in the Gauteng Legislature last week.

The thugs, who should be concerned with ensuring government departments run smoothly, are stealing state vehicles and stripping them for cash, while other vehicles are rented out to individuals.

As if that weren’t enough, these thugs are also using state petrol cards fraudulently.

So organised are these fraudsters that they netted up to R38m by running privately owned garages using state cars managed by G-Fleet, a Gauteng governmentowned entity that manages more than 7 000 vehicles on behalf of various national and provincial departments.

But what was more disturbing at the hearings were revelations that there are no proper systems in place to curb these corrupt activities, and that G-Fleet’s management had failed to apply checks and balances, as required by regulations and policy.

The standing committee on public accounts has given Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Ismail Vadi 10 days to submit detailed plans on how his department will prevent corrupt activities in future, but the first step should be to deal decisively with those managers who allowed this looting to happen under their watch.