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Never before in our history has it become more important that our diminishing government revenue, our public money, be protected to ensure that 100 cents in each Rand goes directly to combating the impact of Covid-19, writes Herman Mashaba.
I must confess to not sleeping well at night lately.
The reason for my insomnia is the idea that hundreds of billions of Rands are moving around our budget, at the discretion of the ANC.
I have seen too much in my time as Mayor of Johannesburg to believe in any inherent goodness within the ruling party.
With over R34 billion in cases under investigation when I left office, I am forced to realise that our budget was small change compared to the measures being undertaken to combat Covid-19.
And one cannot sleep easy on the notion that the corrupt within our government take a break in times of national crisis.
After all, when we wept over the passing of former President Nelson Mandela the corrupt planned how the funeral could be their cash cow.
In recent Covid-19 times, we have already witnessed food parcels intended for those starving being stolen by Councillors and used to dispense political patronage.
Trust me when I say, appealing to the conscience of those who loot our public money is a fool’s errand.
Most of all my sleepless nights come from the lack of measures put in place to safeguard the billions of Rands being directed to combat Covid-19.
With tender procedures being relaxed in the time of emergency, the hyenas did not see crisis, they saw opportunity.
Two weeks ago, I called on President Ramaphosa to take tangible steps to safeguard these public funds.
I urged the appointment of an independent panel of external forensic experts to oversee the work of government.
The best forensic minds in our country, could be tasked with monitoring expenditure, scrutinising the appointments of providers in times of relaxed tender procedures.
They could audit the provision of food relief programmes and they could monitor the reallocation of budgets to combat the impact of the virus. With all of this they could report back to the President and the public on a regular basis.
These are the only measures that the corrupt fear.
What we got instead where platitudes.
Last week, in both addresses to the nation, President Ramaphosa warned the corrupt that they should desist from looting or they would be caught.
"A hawks-eye will be kept on food relief funds to prevent corruption" and "we will deal with Councillor food corruption."
That was it, he may as well have rung the dinner bell.
President Ramaphosa turned to the Auditor General to be tasked with observing the use of public funds in this period.
Despite the excellent work done the AG annually reports on these issues, but nothing is done by our criminal justice system, instead his officials get threatened and in some instances even chased away from auditing these municipalities.
President Ramaphosa cannot tell the nation that he is not aware of these criminal acts.
Why then stand in front of the nation saying that he is in discussion with the AG to put measures in place to protect these Covid-19 funds from the hyenas?
With respect, and President Ramaphosa has earned a fair amount of that lately, the corrupt find such warnings to be hollow platitudes, intended to placate a desperate public more than strike fear within them.
They have observed how such statements have been made in the past, and how nothing changed, nobody got arrested or saw the inside of a court room much less a prison cell.
The President missed the opportunity, although it has not disappeared, to take real and tangible steps to safeguard our public money in this crisis.
It is not too late, and the requisite actions can still be swiftly taken.
Appoint the panel of forensic experts, establish a multi-disciplinary team comprising of the Hawks, SIU and the NPA to fast-track the investigation of corruption in these times and do this all very publicly to strike fear into the corrupt.
Make a public example of those councillors.
They must be investigated, fired as Councillors and from the ANC, tried in court and sentenced.
Only then will those planning great heists of Covid-19 funds, the likes of which will probably humble the Arms Deal, be dissuaded from doing so.
Never before in our history has it become more important that our diminishing government revenue, our public money, be protected to ensure that 100 cents in each Rand goes directly to combating the impact of Covid-19.
Every food parcel must get to a hungry South African, every UIF payment to someone who just lost their job and every social grant to someone in desperate need to feed their family.
Every time a corrupt person intercepts these measures, a South African in need will suffer.
In the time before Covid-19, this was criminal.
In the wake of devastation brought by Covid-19, it is treasonous.
- Herman Mashaba is founder of The People's Dialogue
