Johannesburg- In a piece penned early in February 2021, I painted a picture of an entire country hiking through the valley of the shadow of death.
We were then under the grip of the second wave. Covid-19 had just gobbled another life in my family at that time. For each of the Covid-19 deaths visited upon my desolate family, we had to mourn without grieving and weep without wailing.
This was at a time when Covid-19 vaccines were unheard of in Mzansi. But while the rest of us were postponing our sorrow until tomorrow, the corrupt couldn’t wait, and they couldn’t care less. For them, Covid-19 was the jackpot of all jackpots. On March 23 2020, when the president announced the establishment of a solidarity fund and the temporary employee relief scheme, among others, the mouths of the depraved were watering.
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But then, the president seems to have had some premonition about the shameful debauchery that was coming. On that day, he issued a strong warning “against any attempts at corruption and at profiteering from the crisis”. In the same speech, he also threatened to unleash “special units of the national prosecuting agency” upon “those against whom we find evidence of corruption”.
Whatever happened to that threat! Clearly, the president had grossly underestimated the guile and the gall of the greedy and the immoral, some of whom were members of his inner circle. Suddenly the prices of basic foodstuff, sanitisers, lemons, ginger, flu medicines and PPE, which could only be bought at licensed pharmacies and big supermarkets, went through the roof.
Along came the most detestable thieving orgy since the Arms Deal debacle – a mere 25 days into the South African lockdown. The sordid details of this daylight robbery of the poor, the sick and the dying are contained in the SIU report on Covid-19 corruption, released earlier this week. Though unintended, the thievery was actually launched at the so-called “family meeting” of April 21 2020.
There, the president noted “the fortitude and endurance” of his “fellow South Africans”. He also lamented the 58 lives lost to Covid-19 at that point. But he seemed to fail to factor in the greed and the cunning of the corrupt. Instead, the president slipped into Father Christmas mode – or so it seemed to the thieving perverts.
“We are announcing this evening a huge social relief and economic support package of R500-billion, which amounts to about 10% of GDP”, he said to the loud applause buried inside the warped souls of the corrupt. And so the president continued to dice up and dish out the money: R20-billion for “our efforts to address the pandemic”, R20-billion to municipalities for “water supply, increased sanitisation of public transport and facilities …”, R50-billion for increased social grants, R100- billion for “protection of jobs and to create jobs”, R162-million for “the IDC facility to support companies to procure or manufacture personal protective equipment”.
Meanwhile, the beastly leeches were rubbing their hands with glee. No wonder more than half of the PPE contracts investigated by the SIU were irregular. One of the most shocking things contained in the SIU report is the stubborn resilience and wicked ingenuity shown by the fingered people and entities.
In a few instances, once the original “companies” were disqualified from receiving contracts, they would change names or simply use proxy companies and proxy accounts. Sies! The SIU estimates that up to R14.3-billion worth of Covid-19 funds were stolen – nearly 10% of the R152-billion allocated.
About R551.5-million worth of assets acquired using the stolen money is recoverable. Only R34-million has been recovered so far. For a cash-strapped entity, the SIU has not done badly. Now NPA referrals must translate into convictions and the government referrals must lead to dismissals. Anything less would be an insult to those who lost their lives to Covid-19.
• Professor Maluleke is the incoming Vice-Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology. He writes in his personal capacity. The covid-19 graft is our crying shame SIU report sheds light on the sordid details of those who robbed the poor.
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