Charmaine Ndledla
The Hawks in Mpumalanga have arrested 23 suspects, including senior education officials, over alleged corruption involving emergency school renovation tenders that led to the defrauding of R114 million from the provincial education department.
More arrests are expected as the investigation widens to other government departments, Major General Nico Gerber said during a press briefing on Sunday. He said 41 suspects had been targeted.
The contracts for the emergency repairs were allegedly awarded without proper procedures being followed, at inflated prices, or, in some cases, the work was not done. Some of the tenders date back to 2018.
Gerber said officers had conducted coordinated raids at multiple residences of suspects across several provinces, including Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Some suspects could not initially be found and remain at large, he said.
Government officials among those identified at the time of the corruption include an acting head of department, a chief director for implementation, a director for planning, and an acting chief financial officer.
Gerber said the suspects face charges including fraud, corruption and money laundering.
He said investigations included how the service providers were “hand-picked” and how project costs increased under the guise of urgent repairs.
In some cases, buildings “didn’t really need repair”, but officials allegedly created a false narrative to justify channelling funds to favoured companies.
He said the provincial department of education is currently “under our microscope”, but added that the problem extends beyond a single institution.
The Hawks are already handling multiple fraud and corruption cases involving various government departments, he said.
Further arrests are likely in other matters still under investigation.
Gerber urged suspects who have not yet been detained to cooperate with the police.
He said those not found at their listed addresses would be contacted and asked to present themselves to the police.
“We need to have you in court. It’s to your own benefit,” he said.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has welcomed the arrests, telling Inside Politics she “hopes for a speedy and successful prosecution of those involved”.
The suspects are expected to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Gerber said.
INSIDE POLITICS