Johnathan Paoli
Former Minister and current Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, has struck back at the Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen for his allegations of corruption regarding a R500 million allocated for an animal vaccination facility.
Didiza announced on Monday that she had written to Steenhuisen and clarified that during her tenure, the matter was dealt with both by the board of state-owned Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) as well as the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
She said details of this matter could be found in the annual reports of the state-owned entity, including the audit report, and that following a forensic report on the utilisation of some of the allocation enabled the OBP to take some of the concerns of sub-contracting to the Special Investigative Unit (SIU).
Didiza urged the Minister to be circumspect over matters he raises with the media, and said such conduct could have unintended and disastrous consequences for the department and its entities.
Spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker, Reggie Ngcobo, said that Didiza would be available to assist Steenhuisen about this and other matters relating to the department and allocation of funds.
“It is clear that despite Former Minister Didiza’s efforts to help Minister Steenhuisen with the understanding of the intricacies of the Department and its entities, during the handover process, this remains inadequate,” Ngcobo said.
He said the Speaker found it inappropriate to make definitive statements where investigations are ongoing by law enforcement agencies and creating an impression that nothing was done to address these challenges by the previous administration.
Didiza served as Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development between May 2019 and June this year.
Founded in 2000, OBP is a state-owned entity focused on manufacturing animal vaccines to prevent and control diseases that impact food security, human health, and livelihoods.
Steenhuisen said over the weekend that a forensic audit would be launched into the allocation of R500 million to OBP in 2014, for a new vaccine plant compliant with national and international regulations which was never built.
He said the non-existence of the facility has led to chronic shortages of vaccines and that the capacity of OBP to produce vaccines has been on a serious decline.
“Had that money been spent correctly, this would never have occurred. By not having access to sufficient supplies of vaccines, it has affected their ability to service the animal health needs of their clients,” Steenhuisen said.
The Minister said that despite OBP alleging its financial stability at a Portfolio Committee meeting in June this year, the Auditor-General found a large portion of the grant unspent and unaccounted for.
He said that OBP had been failing in its mandate of producing vaccines for farmers, and that the recent shortage of African horse vaccines was indicative of this.
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