Improved convictions in public corruption – Limpopo Provincial Government

Government has experienced significant loss due to corruption by public servants. The month of September is set aside for Anti-Corruption Roadshow as part of raising awareness to government and its entities which was held in Polokwane.

The awareness aims at routing out the corruption to realize a free corruption country and government. To implement this, the province has adopted the Limpopo Anti-Corruption Strategy which is aligned to the 2020-2030 strategy.

The provincial strategy intends to fight against corruption, educate and prevent any acts of corruptions especially by public servants by using state resources for their personal benefit especially that corruption has birthed trust deficiency between citizens and government.

There are several committees established in the province to help curb the ongoing corruption activities. As things stands now, there are officials dedicated to working towards curbing and routing out the corrupting which includes ethic officers, risk management, cluster and anti-corruption coordination committee which was established in line with the Limpopo Anti-Corruption strategy. The established bodies are expected to improve governance in all government spheres and entities.

Speaking to the statistics in the province and painting the progress picture, Col Mosoafo Seabi on behalf of the South African Police Service said 25 cases have been finalized including conviction and sentencing.

Entities implicated in fraudulent activities includes;

Department of Labour in connection with Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) where 61 cases were referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and secured 4 prosecution for Covid 19 grant and 129 companies signed acknowledgement of debt.

Mopani Local Municipality for procurement of borehole and VIP toilets. R19 million has been recovered for the work that was not done and 53 cases referred to NPA with 2 officials being referred for disciplinary actions.

Mogalakwena Local Municipality with 29 referral cases and 4 officials being subjected to disciplinary action while 17 more are still investigated with possible prosecution
Department of Public Works has 9 officials to be disciplined while 5 criminal cases have been referred to NPA and R191 million to be recovered from two contractors based in Tzaneen
Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) there are currently to civil litigations and 61 criminal referrals to the NPA, 45 officials being referred to disciplinary committees.

Amongst those that have been prosecuted includes officials that fraudulently claimed kilometers travelled for a period of 4 years in prison without an option for fine.

Municipalities have blacklisted all tender defaulters and have already embarked on ethical conduct campaigns for all councilors.