Graft reports no surprise

Media reports at the weekend of unscrupulous lawyers scamming the government to defraud the fiscus of R80bn are par for the course under the ANC. The majority of claims were against the health department.

Private firms of attorneys allegedly colluded with the state attorney’s office to “intentionally bungle claims against the state”. The attorneys receive a portion of the claim as a pay-off.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proclamation for the Special Investigative Unit to investigate this malfeasance from 2013 is likely to cost more than it is destined to recover. The unlikelihood of progress in this investigation will be due to the ineptitude of these enforcement units.

Moreover, the fact the head of this state department failed to observe the “surge in claims between 2012 and 2016” is testimony to ineffectiveness. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says: “I was shocked that there was a case of R70m and the MEC knew nothing about it.”

His statement undoubtedly reflects on the ineptitude and outright inability of the health department to function even remotely correctly.

That Motsoaledi expects the National Health Insurance Bill, tabled before parliament, to succeed in treating all South Africans is incomprehensible in light of this uselessness. The ANC needs to appoint competent people to lead these departments, not corrupt and low-ability cadres, as in the past.

Nathan Cheiman

Northciff