The Department of Social Development’s anti-corruption campaign prevented R400-million from being stolen this year, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said on Wednesday.
Speaking in Pretoria, Skweyiya said his department is annually defrauded of R1,5-billion.
”The efforts of government as a whole and law-enforcement agencies resulted in R400-million being saved.
”We salute the role played by law enforcement. That is the South African Police Service, the special investigation unit and the Scorpions,” Skweyiya said.
He appreciates the work the agencies are doing in cooperation with his department and said he realises it was putting stress and additional demands on their capacity.
Skweyiya said to date the department and law enforcement have taken legal action against 109 officials, with more expected to face the same.
”Thus far, we have had 86 000 people come forward and volunteer to get indemnity for their fraudulent use of the department’s funds. Of that number, 21 045 applications have been processed.”
He said out of the 21 045 processed applications, 4 500 were found to have come from public servants.
”Public servants do not qualify for indemnity for the abuse of public funds and their cases are to be referred for legal action,” the minister said.
Skweyiya said earlier in the day two lawyers in the Eastern Cape had been arrested for defrauding the government of R2,5-million.
”The public need to come forward and identify these people. It is only through cooperation with government and law enforcement that we can curb this corruption.”
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) on Wednesday expressed a concern that the government’s social grants may be open to abuse.
SACC general secretary Molefe Tsele warned that the council will not hesitate to expose ”one of our own” if he or she is found involved in such activities.
”Our call as the [South African] Council of Churches goes to the ministry of social development to begin to intensify the fight against corrupt practices inside the department and outside of it.
”We are aware as the council that the government’s social grants have become a lucrative business for some. This needs to stop,” Tsele said.
At the briefing, Skweyiya also discussed outcomes of a workshop on gender equality, organised by his department and attended by national and provincial government representatives.
He said the workshop, which took place on Monday and Tuesday, was a review of progress made in South Africa in the 10 years since the Beijing summit on gender issues.
”There have been significant strides made for women empowerment in the past 10 years, but there are still gaps to be filled,” said Skweyiya.
He said he does not see enough women holding positions in local government or in the private sector. He said all improvements made in the sphere of gender equality should filter down to women in communities and not only be enjoyed by women in high-powered positions.
”Over the next months, we will accelerate, beyond Women’s Month and the 16 Days of Activism, our advocacy and information campaigns.
”The 16 Days of Activism, where we try to prevent the abuse of the vulnerable, should become the norm as a year-long event.” — Sapa