The Gauteng premier also vowed to take action against corrupt officials involved in dodgy procurement deals – including those who allowed it to happen.
JOHANNESBURG – Gauteng Premier David Makhura said he planned to recover all the money fraudulently paid to corrupt personal protective equipment (PPE) providers.
The premier also vowed to take action against corrupt officials involved in dodgy procurement deals – including those who allowed it to happen.
He was speaking at the provincial command council briefing following the suspension of Gauteng’s head of department for health Mkhululi Lukhele, and the deputy director-general.
Makhura said the province could not rebuild or recover from the pandemic as long as corruption continued to run rampant.
He reiterated that he was taking a tough stance on corruption after multiple senior officials were suspended following allegations of corruption.
The premier has also extended MEC for Health Bandile Masuku’s leave pending the finalisation of the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) report.
“Where people were appointed irregularly, those who did so must be held to account; where businesses fleeced government in terms of overpricing, where they did not deliver, we want to recover the money. Where they delivered products that were not up to scratch, we want to recover the money.”
Makhura said the number of companies implicated in irregularities had now grown to 61.
“The update I got from the SIU is that number of companies brought under the same course of action, including instituting civil action, is now 61. The number has grown from 40 to 61.”
He said he had made it his mission to root out corruption within the provincial government.
