South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said the government has launched an investigation into allegations of misuse of COVID-19 funds, reported Africa News.
During a Parliament session, Ramaphosa announced about the probe and described the officials and companies involved as vultures.
“I have authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe any allegations relating to the misuse of COVID-19 funds across all spheres of the state,” the South African president said.
The graft allegations concern corruption in the allocation of state tenders in the fight against COVID-19 and funds planned for the procurement of goods and services for the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The alleged contracts include the manufacture of face masks and the distribution of food parcels. Funds have also allegedly been embezzled through COVID-19 awareness campaigns.
It is claimed that individuals who have connection with the government and the governing African National Congress Party (ANC) have benefited from contracts for supplying goods and services mobilized to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Ramaphosa said the country’s National Treasury has taken several steps to tighten procurement regulations.
Notably, the South African president’s own spokesperson Khusela Diko is currently on leave pending an investigation into COVID-19 procurement by a company linked to her husband.
Ramaphosa said that the six ministers tasked with gathering information on COVID-19 tenders have finished almost 90% of their work and information was being posted on the National Treasury website as it is received, while the separate investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) continued.
South Africa is the hardest-hit country in the African continent, with more than thirteen thousand dead and more than six hundred thousand cases.
On Thursday, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the country registered 2,585 new cases of the novel coronavirus over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 618,286. He revealed that 126 people died of the virus on Thursday, pushing the total number of fatalities to 13,628.
