COSATU in the Northern Cape is deeply concerned about the revelation of acts of alleged corruption in the Department of Education, and the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture. This follows the testimony in 2019 at the Zondo Commission that, an official at the Department of Education received a bribe of R 1.2 million to secure a tender worth R10 million for upgrades at the Department’s building in Kimberley by Bosasa. To date, no step has been taken against the culprit.
Recently, the HOD for Sport, Arts & Culture (DSAC) was implicated in a report by the Public Protector for allegations of improper conduct and maladministration concerning DSAC and Northern Arts & Culture Council (NCACC).
The report reveals that NCACC paid R1 million to an events company to host an Umsobomvu Youth Tourism and cultural festival at Norvalspont in December 2016 which did not take place.
The Federation views these allegations in a very serious light and believes that this could be just the tip of an iceberg since this might be the case at other departments.
We, therefore, call on the Premier, the Hawks, SAPS and the Departments that are implicated to act speedily and ensure that the perpetrators are arrested, prosecuted and brought to jail, but most importantly, that all monies are recovered.
The Provincial Government must walk the talk, it is hypocrisy to speak against corruption but fail to act against those who are stealing from the poor. We demand that the perpetrators should be suspended from work with immediate effect, a failure which shall leave us with no other option but to take to the streets and forcefully remove whoever is perpetuating or protecting corruption in the public office.
We further demand that the Premier should act and deal with every allegation of corruption in every corner of its manifestation within the Provincial Government; this will be a good step to ensure clean governance, there should be no room for thieves and anarchy in our Government.
Issued by COSATU Northern Cape
Orapeleng Moraladi
COSATU Northern Cape Provincial Secretary
For any further clarity, please contact: 078 452 6891 or 060 978 5651