Riyaz Patel
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) says there is massive looting at municipalities and has urged the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prioritise cases emanating from municipalities.
Scopa said their interactions with the 13 municipalities that have had adverse audit outcomes in three consecutive years, has made “clear that governance, financial management and contract management have collapsed.”
“For this reason, a special focus directed at municipalities is needed,” a Scopa statement said.
The country needs functional municipalities and therefore consequence management is key at that level of government, the statement added.
The Committee noted the SIU’s commitment to establish anti-corruption forums at local government level, which will “assist the process of cleaning up the rot at municipalities.”
Scopa Chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said the committee is further concerned over the slow pace of investigating cases that have been referred by the SIU to the NPA.
“The committee has been made aware that of the 293 cases referred to the NPA by the SIU, only 144 are under investigation. 11 of these are before the courts and nine of which have been finalised by the courts.”
One of the cases before the NPA is the fraud case of former President Nelson Mandela’s memorial.
Hlengwa further said its imperative that the funding shortages experienced by the SIU and the NPA are addressed in order for these units to be effective.
