The inter-ministerial committee appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to assess the trends linked to Covid-19 tenders across various governemt departments.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola will chair the six-member Cabinet committee established to deal with Covid-19 tender corruption.
RELATED: Lamola to lead new Cabinet committee aimed at tackling Covid tender corruption
Justice Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri says the role of the committee is not to investigate crimes, but to ensure that all government departments comply with open disclosure of their Covid-19 procurement.
Once all Covid-19 tender contracts have been made public, Phiri says the committee will assess the information and make recommendations to Ramaphosa about what needs to change in the procurement system.
Phiri explains that only law enforcement agencies have the power to investigate and prosecute Covid-19 corruption
The role of this committee is to ensure that all government departments, from national to local government level, publish information that relates to Covid-19 tenders.
Chrispin Phiri, Spokesperson – Department of Justice and Correctional Services
That information must be made available on that department’s website in a particular format specified by the committee.
Chrispin Phiri, Spokesperson – Department of Justice and Correctional Services
It’s going to ensure that the supplier name is there, how long the company has been trading for, what the department procured from that company, how much it costs, and what the recommended Treasury price is.
Chrispin Phiri, Spokesperson – Department of Justice and Correctional Services
The role of the committee would be to analyse that information once it’s available in the public domain… to understand the trends… what departments are doing wrong and what is flawed in the system that leads to this fraud.
Chrispin Phiri, Spokesperson – Department of Justice and Correctional Services
Listen to Chrispin Phiri on The Midday Report with Lester Kiewit:
