JOHANNESBURG – There’s a silver lining amid all the corruption allegations against government officials involved in PPE fraud, well, at least that’s according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa says in future there will be more transparency with procurement so that taxpayers know what their money is being spent on.
“There is an intense focus on detecting and prosecuting COVID related corruption and improving transparency in procurement,” Ramaphosa said.
“I have often said that we must look out for some silver linings beneath this COVID-19 cloud, one of those would be from now on when it comes to procurement we need to have transparency. The type of transparency that will enable our people to know what the money that they pay in taxes is going to be used for.”
Ramaphosa says the country’s labour laws prevent government from suspending officials accused of corruption without full pay but he says if necessary, a different rule for politicians must be looked at.
The president also said state capture has weakened important institutions, making it hard to prosecute some cases.
Ramaphosa says he has begun a process of strengthening institutions such as the NPA and SARS, to give them the capacity to do their job.
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