Fraud-related cases in the Eastern Cape could soon be dealt with speedily after the Scorpions announced the establishment of a special corruption court in King William’s Town.
Scorpions representative Sipho Ngwema announced the establishment of the special court on Wednesday, after four former government officials were arrested by the anti-corruption task team on charges of defrauding the Social Development Department of over R5,8-million.
Ngwema said a date for the launch of the court was still under discussion.
”We think and hope it will be launched by the end of January or first week of February. It is going to be exclusively for government fraud-related cases only.”
Last year senior government officials in Bisho estimated that fraud and corruption cost the provincial government more than R1-billion a year.
Ngwema said a team of 10 prosecutors, lawyers and magistrates from Pretoria have already been deployed to the region. Ngwema said the team, including the anti-corruption task team, was investigating other fraud-related cases.
He said the team was also going to look at the disciplinary case backlogs within the government departments.
”The main departments are health, education, social development and public works which we going to look at,” he said.
The team works closely together with the interim task team that has been deployed in the province by President Thabo Mbeki to help speed up service delivery in the same departments, he said.
Ngwema said that about 20 police dockets relating to corruption and fraud have been taken to the national prosecuting office in Pretoria to be scrutinised thoroughly.
”We want to check them thoroughly and then make decisions of what to do about them.” – Sapa