EDITORIAL | SIU and NPA successes, while commendable, are taking too long

R191,982.

This is how much the Gauteng education department paid, on average, to sanitise 2,245 facilities — 2,207 schools and 38 administration buildings — before pupils returned to school in June 2020.

It was clear from the moment the figures were revealed in January that there was something amiss. And when it was made public that some of the companies which scored from the R431m procurement process had no prior experience in such work, the malfeasance was obvious.

So it was good news when the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced last week that it had obtained an order to freeze R40,7m worth of bank accounts and assets. It found the decontamination contracts were “manifestly unlawful”.

The process, said the SIU, was “haphazard, unfair and littered with procurement irregularities”.

The unit said it had approached the Special Tribunal for a preservation order to freeze accounts with R6m and assets worth more than R4,7m belonging to seven companies, five individuals and two family trusts.

While 40% of them have been completed, worryingly, just 38, or 0.92%, have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

With collaboration from the Financial Intelligence Centre, intervention directives had also been issued to place a hold on R30m in funds received from the education department, said spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago. 

However, SIU head adv Andy Mothibi revealed this was a drop in the ocean.

The unit, he said, had investigated 4,117 Covid-19-related cases since last year, one being the R150m Digital Vibes tender that now has health minister Zweli Mkhize on the ropes.

By April 30, the value of these investigations was R14,3bn and involved 2,251 service providers, said Mothibi.

While 40% of them have been completed, worryingly, just 38, or 0.92%, have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

This is too slow.

While acknowledging the SIU and NPA have a long way to go to rebuild after years of being undermined, and while always celebrating successes such as those regarding the dodgy Gauteng education department tenders, they need to move faster. Perpetrators must be held to account, and swiftly. Then we can celebrate the wins not as isolated incidents, but as the norm.