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Durban – North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo said his office is fully cooperating with the Hawks, following a raid on the premises on Thursday morning.
"We welcome and support the initiative taken by the Hawks this morning in relation to allegations of fraud and corruption within sections of supply chain management in the office of the premier and department of finance," Mahumapelo said.
The Hawks were looking for documents related to the multimillion-rand IT contract with Nepo Data Dynamics.
READ: Hawks raid North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo's offices
"In my recent SOPA (State of the Province Address) in Marikana, I reiterated that we must work and allow South Africa's law enforcement agencies to do their work without fear, favour or prejudice," Mahumapelo said in a statement.
Documents which claimed that the company had been paid R215m have been circulating on social media since last week.
Nepo Data Dynamics has a three-year contract with the office of the premier, assisting it with rolling out the province's IT transformation programme.
North West government spokesperson Brian Setswambung said the company was tasked with aligning all government IT systems for the province to ensure that they run seamlessly.
Full cooperation with Hawks
Mahumapelo said it was important for all officials, "irrespective of our positions within government and elsewhere", to allow their offices to be subjected to the rule of law.
"We are fully cooperating with the Hawks and all other law enforcement agencies to strengthen the values of democracy in our republic. As soon as all other forensic investigations are completed, we will accordingly inform the people of the province and South Africa at large," he said.
He urged that there be no sensationalising of "these important matters of our province", but that all law enforcement agencies be supported and allowed to do their work without any hindrance.
"In all my State of the Province Addresses since 2014, I have always emphasised the importance of all of us as directed by our organisation, the ANC, to intensify at all fronts, the campaign against greed, crime and corruption. In this regard the North West government adopted a monthly Setsokotsane programme focusing on 10 campaigns, which includes this matter," he said.
Hawks regional spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso confirmed the raid at Mahumapelo's office.
"We are investigating a case of alleged corruption and fraud within the premier's office," she said.
She could not divulge any further information.
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