By Charles Molele
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party laid charges of fraud and corruption against the National Treasury at the Brooklyn police station in Tshwane on Monday.
Party leader Des Van Rooyen led a delegation of the party’s Members of Parliament to the Brooklyn Police Station, where charges of corruption and fraud were laid against the National Treasury.
Van Rooyen told the SABC that the party has opened a case against the National Treasury, US-based IT firm Oracle and the State Information Technology Agency.
“Now, because we are dealing with a ministry, so here we are saying the executive authority, as well as the accounting officer, must account to the nation about what happened,” Van Rooyen said.
“And that goes also to the leadership of Oracle, that goes also to the leadership of SITA. We think the investigation that will be conducted by our law enforcement agents will exact who were behind this irregular expenditure. Here we are speaking of quite a substantial amount of money.”
The charges stem from the alleged irregular awarding of the Integrated Financial Management System tender.
According to reports, the Auditor-General flagged the IFMS project, which cost the National Treasury R400 million.
The IFMS contract, awarded during the 2017 financial year, involved the purchase of a system from Oracle, promising to improve and integrate municipal financial management.
To date, the system has not been utilised, despite costing South African taxpayers millions of rands.
Last week, opposition parties were outraged after the Director-General Duncan Pieterse informed the Standing Committee on Finance of National Treasury’s intention to challenge the Special Investigating Unit report on the IFMS.
Other concerns were raised over National Treasury’s plan to renegotiate the contract with Oracle, despite the SIU uncovering procurement irregularities and potential corruption during the supply chain management processes related to the project.
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters have confirmed that their leader, Julius Malema, has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa, urging him to release the SIU report, which was submitted to him in March 2024.
“It is unacceptable that despite the SIU providing you with this report in March 2024, the findings remain hidden from the public, particularly given the magnitude of corruption and wasteful expenditure surrounding the IFMS project at the National Treasury,” Malema wrote in the letter.
“The National Treasury has, to date, wasted approximately R400 million in this contract, with the Auditor General of South Africa flagging this as material financial loss due to payment for services not rendered, in a contract that was awarded irregularly and in a corrupt manner.
“It is alarming that even after the National Treasury’s own investigation confirmed the corrupt nature of the award, the payments to Oracle have continued, and the National Treasury continues to defend the indefensible, revealing an outrageous disregard for public finances.”
Malema said by withholding the report, Ramaphosa has chosen to shield these malpractices instead of taking decisive action to protect public money.
“The continued financial losses incurred through this project, without the release of the report, violate these constitutional obligations. Furthermore, concealing this information undermines public confidence in our financial systems and erodes trust in the National Treasury’s ability to act in the best interests of the country.”
According to EFF, the IFMS contract included purchasing an Oracle system with the goal of enhancing municipal finances.
“Over the past decade, we have witnessed a complete collapse of municipal financial management systems. The majority of municipalities are riddled with corruption, and there are no systems to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure, yet the IFMS was never used,” the party said in a statement.
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