Public Protector Busiswe Mkhwebane has warned that there will be consequences for senior government leaders and officials who refuse to give her information in connection with her COVID-19 investigations.
Mkhwebane today reminded the executive and senior management in provinces that accountability in the form of cooperating with her investigations was a Constitutional imperative.
Her office said efforts to investigate irregular procurement of goods and services to fight coronavirus were of late being met with resistance, with some officials saying they had already submitted the information to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Auditor-General.
“Officials cannot cherry-pick which institutions they want to account to. Answering questions from one institution is not a bulwark against accounting to another,” she said.
“The Constitution is unequivocal that organs of state must assist the Public Protector to ensure that the institution’s independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness, and that no person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the institution,” she added.
This comes as the SIU was investigating over 650 contracts related to the purchasing of personal protective equipment, to the tune of more than R5bn, the leadership of the unit recently told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa).
