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While South Africans face the hunger pandemic, the government’s efforts to provide aid have failed amid widespread accusations of fraud and mismanagement.
By Lynsey Chutel
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Contracts are distributed to members of the family circle. Food packets are missing. And the budget for unemployment insurance is making its way into the wallets of political cronies.
South Africa, the continent’s economic power, responded to the coronavirus pandemic by pronouncing the largest aid effort in the country’s history. But the company has been marred by accusations of widespread corruption and mismanagement, underscambing confidence in a government that had first gained popularity abroad for its declared reaction to the pandemic.
Charities and ordinary citizens say they have been left with the gaps created by government failures.
Despite its pandemic measures, South Africa is now overtaken by more than 592144 cases of coronavirus, the fifth highest infection rate in the world and the highest official workload on the African continent.
South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, first won praise after imposing one of the strictest closures in the world in March and delivering a series of social measures that he said would mitigate the devastating economic consequences of the pandemic. A 500 billion rand ($30 billion) stimulus package announced in April aimed to complement an existing social safety net that already supported 11.3 million citizens with food aid and other monthly social services.
But this aid effort has instead a source of shame for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected on a platform to eliminate corruption. Ramaphosa was forced to go from explaining the lockout measures to trying to reassure the public that aid will be provided and that those who wish to take advantage of it, adding members of their own party, will be punished.
He called the corruption defendants a “herd of hyenas surrounding their wounded prey” and announced the creation of a new police unit to investigate the allegations.
The scandal, which has dominated the airwaves and communication displays in recent weeks, includes accusations that government officials and politically linked friends have diverted cash to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and that relatives of public officials have been awarded inflated contracts to provide non-public protection. Team.
In addition, a food distribution program that has been expanded to feed some of South Africa’s 4.5 million people with paints due to the pandemic has been blocked by local food delivery advisers, according to charities and control agencies.
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