EFF leader Julius Malema has called for transparency in how the Solidarity Fund conducts its business, saying the initiative by President Cyril Ramaphosa should operate within the laws of the country.
Delivering the party’s Freedom Day speech virtually, Malema said government should establish strong accountability on the money that has been set aside for the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
Sunday World reported on the weekend that the Black Business Council (BBC) has demanded from Business for South Africa (B4SA) – which is handling the procurement of medical equipment including personal protective equipment (PPEs) – a list of companies that have been contracted to supply medical equipment.
The BBC said black business was being side-lined in the procurement of COVID-19 medical equipment.
Ramaphosa announced last week that R20 billion rand was allocated to the Department of Health as part of government’s R500bn economic and social relief package.
The Solidary Fund also announced that R2,6bn had been set up and that 21 million masks, 400,000 test-kits and procurement of over 200 ventilators had been purchased with the money.
The Sunday World also reported that National Treasury has appointed Imperial Health Sciences (IHS) as the agent to help with the implementation of a centralised system of buying PPEs, and warehousing and distribution.
IHS is a business unit of logistics giant Imperial in South Africa. The non-executive chairperson of the company is Phumzile Langeni, one of Ramaphosa’s investment envoys tasked with raising over R1 trillion in the next five years to bolster the country’s ailing economy.
Malema said: “We are aware that already those deployed in the Solidarity Fund want to operate outside of the laws of the republic”.
He added: “We are aware that those managing the Solidarity Fund want to appoint Bidvest and Imperial as the only companies that will buy and deliver all the essentials needed to fight the coronavirus”.
Malema said his party demanded all people who worked on the fund, including board members, should do so on a voluntary basis.
Malema called for local manufacturing of ventilators, saying state-owned arms company, Denel, should be given this task.
He also warned against a premature opening of the economy, saying government would have blood on its hands should people be infected by the virus in their workplaces.
