THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been given a green light to investigate corruption in the Eastern Cape Department of Health and Midvaal Municipality.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Proclamations 71 and 72 of 2022 authorising the investigations and to recover any financial losses that both entities suffered through litigation.
“The SIU investigation on the Eastern Cape Department of Health will focus on the procurement of or contracting for health care risk waste management,” said the crime-busting agency.
The investigation will investigate whether the contract and payment were fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and if the guidelines by the National Treasury or provincial treasury were followed.
“Secondly, the SIU will investigate any irregular, improper or unlawful conduct by employees or officials of the department and any other person or parties involved in this tender,” read the statement.
The Proclamation covers offences which took place between 1 March 2018 and 8 July this year, the date of publication of the Proclamation, or which took place prior to 1 March 2018 or after the date of the publication of this Proclamation.
In the Midvaal, the SIU will probe the municipality on a tender for the rental of a vehicle tracking system, including the installation, monitoring and maintenance of a web-based live tracking system by or on behalf of the municipality.
“The SIU investigate whether the payment pertaining to this contract were fair, transparent, equitable competitive, cost-effective and followed the guidelines, policies and procedures issued by the National Treasury or Provincial Treasury.”
Former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi seemed surprised about the investigation since his municipality used to get clean audits.
He responded: “I don’t know. Let’s wait for the outcome of the investigation.”