Same old, same old: No ANC PPE tenderpreneurs will go to jail – analyst

With billions of rands having possibly been looted from a severely stressed fiscus during the Covid-19 pandemic, promises of swift prosecutions and justice served, will probably remain a pipe dream.

According to political analyst, Professor Lesiba Teffo from Unisa, it actually does not matter who is appointed to investigate the apparent corruption that, at first tally, could exceed R5 billion.

The reason: the results of any investigation would probably be the same as with all previous investigations in that nobody will go to jail or be made to pay back the money they allegedly stole, misappropriated or redirected due to ANC factional politics.

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of a multi-disciplinary approach to Covid-19 procurement corruption, and the Special Investigative Unit’s (SIU) report to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in Parliament on Wednesday, South Africans have been up in arms, with hashtags such as #VoetsekANC, for example, trending on Twitter for days. 

Teffo said the SIU probe, like others, may turn into a damp squib because ANC factional politics will interfere and culprits, set free.

He added that he was concerned that the duplication of investigations between different state entities and departments, “muddied” the entire environment around the PPE saga.

“There are too many actors and that won’t take this process anywhere, however, we must let the process run its course. It doesn’t matter to me, people lost faith in these commissions because factional politics always come into play,” Teffo said.

The SIU is probing just under 660 companies and contracts valued at over R5 billion, over corruption allegations regarding the procurement of goods and services needed for government’s Covid-19 response.

The SIU motivated for a mandate to carry out these investigations, after receiving reports about alleged wrongdoing from the director-general in the office of the Gauteng premier as well as a number of known and anonymous whistleblowers.

Ramaphosa, in his proclamation, was clear that Covid-19-related graft would not be tolerated.

The reports have to do with maladministration and corruption in the procurement of PPE, hospital and quarantine sites, food parcels, ventilators, motorised wheelchairs and disinfecting equipment.

SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi briefed Parliament on Wednesday and Scopa chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, told the advocate and his entourage that ‘consequence management’ must follow their investigation into the saga.

Hlengwa is known for his non-nonsense approach and for cracking the whip, especially on corruption and laxity.

For example, his committee insisted that the South African Airways produce long-awaited financial statements before the national carrier was placed under business rescue.

Hlengwa insisted that consequence management be followed through and undertook to put pressure on the SIU, other law enforcement agencies to speed up their investigation and for NPA to ensure prosecutions.

The committee stressed that successful prosecution must happen in order to turn the tide of corruption in government and to restore the public’s confidence in the system. Furthermore, the committee told Mothibi that the investigations must result in the recovery of stolen money.

But Teffo was adamant that even the latest SIU probe would be mired in party politics and factional battles, including the Ministerial committee which was set up to also look at aspects of Covid-19 funding.

This is because, he said, the suspects would be exonerated depending on which faction they belonged to.

“Even the Ministerial committee will be subject to factional politics. This happened with the VBS issue and culprits were suspended but factional politics came and they were reinstated,” Teffo said.

Additional reporting by Tebogo Tshwane.

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