Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says strong measures have been put in place to prevent the looting of public funds during relief measures in KwaZulu-Natal after the floods.
He told members of the ad hoc committee on the KZN floods on Monday that the Auditor-General is already beginning to follow the transactions on things that have been procured in the province.
This comes after MPs raised concern that some of the funds have already been used, but they wanted to prevent what happened in 2020 when there was the looting of Covid-19 PPE funds.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke last Friday briefed the standing committee on the auditor-general, where she assured MPs that she had already started working on KZN relief funds.
She said they have already been in touch with departments and entities involved and set out the ground rules.
Gungubele said even President Cyril Ramaphosa did not want a repeat of 2020 when Covid-19 PPE funds were looted.
Several entities were fingered by the Special Investigating Unit, the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Auditor-General into the looting of funds.
Gungubele said they have roped in the AG to ensure the funds were used for what they were intended for.
“The President would have upfront spoken about ensuring that we avoid what happened in 2020. The oversight structure that deals with this which is chaired by the Director-General in the Presidency (Phindile) Baleni. It brings together the Treasury, the Presidency, the AG and the oversight elements in civil society where the AG is going to do what we call real time assessment, like having a common page with regard to what principles should be followed in tendering.
“The AG is not going to determine the tender, but the principles and the ground rules so that as the AG follows a number of transactions as they are implemented follow those transactions, check if they are in line with the principles that are understood. That work is already in place. A few days ago, I did speak to the AG, they showed me they are already following those transactions,” said Gungubele.
Political Bureau