LOOTERS MUST FACE FULL MIGHT OF THE LAW
THE release of the list of companies who were awarded personal protective equipment tenders to fight the spread of Covid-19 is a positive step by the government. But it will not be enough until all those who illegally benefited from the contracts are behind bars.
As a Cabinet member said recently, it was a disgrace that certain individuals and businesses were looting the public purse in the middle of a pandemic and health emergency.
It is unprecedented that South Africa has ranked among the countries where people have been fighting against corruption during a public health crisis. In Kenya, medical professionals protested against corruption related to Covid-19 procurement.
The government has been under pressure from day one, when details emerged of corruption and that politically connected individuals were benefiting.
The fiscus has been stretched to the limit. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said Covid-19 had exposed our fragilities and we were not as rich as we thought we were.
Scenes of poor communities crying out for help amid growing hunger has shown South Africa’s poverty rate might be higher than statistics want us to believe.
The pandemic has made the situation worse, with millions more workers expected to join the queue of the unemployed.
It is against this background that there has been a huge public outrage over the looting of Covid-19 funds. The public and poor communities are crying out for justice, and that those behind the corruption must face the full might of the law.
Cosatu has also come out in support of jailing those stealing from the poor.
The release of the list by the National Treasury is one step in the right direction.
But the proof of the pudding is the arrests and convictions of those implicated. The ball is in the court of law enforcement agencies. It is time for the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit, the Hawks and other agencies to act on corruption and ensure they have watertight cases that will secure convictions.
The next few months ahead will tell whether the agencies have the will and capacity to act decisively against corruption by prosecuting those behind the corruption.