No more monuments of graft

MANY government projects aimed at improving the lives of ordinary people have been either delayed or stopped because of corruption.

The endemic corruption that dominates every facet of our lives is robbing the poor and is scaring away much-needed foreign investment.

The multimillion rand “cultural centre” at King Goodwill Zwelithini’s Nongoma palace has already guzzled about R104 million of taxpayers’ money.

The project, which had a prize tag of R180m, serves as a clear reminder of how corruption robs the poor.

Members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on arts and culture last week visited the king’s Enkonyeni palace, and were astonished to witness the shoddy workmanship and collapsing infrastructure of the cultural centre.

The centre is supposed to accommodate thousands of maidens who attend the annual reed dance. The conditions that the maidens have to put up with are terrible. Every year, they have to sleep in tents or buses when they attend the festival.

For people tasked with the responsibility of building this much-needed infrastructure, to inflate prizes while putting up a substandard building is criminal and heartless.

The shocked MPs who went on an oversight visit alleged that corruption had taken place in the project.

They also complained that the buildings were already falling apart before they had even been completed.

The MPs could not believe that the construction costs could still climb to R1 billion.

The king has called for an investigation into this project, but urged the government to continue with the work for the benefit of the rural community.

While we support the king’s call for a probe, we believe that construction must be halted until those responsible for this corruption are brought to book.

Companies, individuals or government officials cannot embezzle government funds and get away with it.

We know that the national Department of Arts and Culture has been investigating this matter, and we appeal to them to finalise it as soon as possible.

We cannot have another “monument of corruption” on the same scale as Nkandla becoming synonymous with this province.