The Democratic Alliance (DA) has described as a disgrace allegations that the Gauteng government has responded to only seven of 195 corruption cases reported to the national anti-corruption hotline in the 2007/08 financial year.
”In the last three years, only 122 out of 1Â 000 hotline referrals have been dealt with, which is really pathetic.
”It is a small wonder that little progress is made in fighting corruption in Gauteng provincial departments,” Gauteng’s DA leader, Jack Bloom, said on Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to newly sworn-in Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile, Bloom blamed the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) and asked for Mashatile’s intervention in the matter.
”The Public Service Commission [PSC] informs me that in Gauteng, all the hotline tip-offs are sent to the GSSC, which is notoriously inefficient and is also rife with corruption allegations that have never been examined,” he said.
Bloom’s letter to Mashatile follows the recent annual report tabled by the PSC in the Gauteng provincial legislature.
”There is clearly a problem here that needs urgent attention in order to ensure a clean administration,” Bloom said.
Mashatile’s spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
The government’s national anti-corruption hotline was launched in 2004 in a bid to allow South Africans to report fraudulent activities within the public-services sector.
Alleged corruption activities were to be reported centrally and then be re-directed to the relevant departments.
In Gauteng, incidents reported to the hotline 0800Â 701Â 701 are first directed to the GSSC before reaching the relevant departments.
”We are the only province doing that and I think reports get stuck at the GSSC,” Bloom said. — Sapa