By Alexander Winning
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Monday it was investigating irregularities in coronavirus-related tenders, the latest in a series of scandals that trade unions said showed the government’s failure to tackle graft.
The Ombudsman’s surveys come shortly after investigators conducted separate investigations into the acquisition of a non-public protective apparatus (PPE) in Gauteng province, the economic heart of the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa staked his reputation on tackling graft when he replaced Jacob Zuma as head of state more than two years ago, but he is on the back foot after news reports alleging that politically connected individuals have milked the state for millions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ramaphosa used a weekly newsletter for the country to promise that his government would “eventually deal with entrenched patronage networks that allow government workers to bid on state contracts through their friends and family.”
“We will let the hard-earned public budget through tireless taxpayers or donations from patriotic and American corporations and the foreign network disappear into a black vacuum of corruption.”
COSATU, the country’s largest industrial federation and a key best friend of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), said in a statement that the Ramaphosa administration had acted weakly in the face of recent allegations of corruption.
Corruption is the biggest risk to the economy.
The Ombudsman stated that he was investigating tender irregularities in at least 3 provinces, adding a quarantine site allegedly owned by a government official and the acquisition of PPE in KwaZulu-Natal province.
South Africa has recorded more than one million cases of COVID-19, the maximum in Africa, and the number of infections is accelerating rapidly.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, called over the weekend for a rapid parliamentary debate about what it described as a “food frenzy” through other people connected to the FTA after the suspension of general hiring regulations due to the coronavirus.
An ANC spokesman responded to his phone when asked via Reuters on Monday.
Ramaphosa spokeswoman Khusela Diko and a senior Gauteng fitness officer took a break after a mediar said Diko’s husband had won EPI contracts with the Gauteng government.
Diko and her husband have denied wrongdoing and the health official has said he was not involved in provincial procurement processes.
Despite Ramaphosa’s assurances, some analysts doubt that he is making much progress in the fight against corruption.
“The ANC supports public tenders,” said political scientist Ralph Mathekga.
“The only way Ramaphosa to remain president is to act in amazement and look elsewhere. He created an integrity price and now he can’t respect it.”
(Additional report through Wendell Roelf; Edited through Mark Heinrich and Nick Macfie)