SCOPA seeking tighter vetting for govt contractors
The chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Songezo Zibi, says he is discussing the issue of vetting contractors doing business with the government.
Zibi responded to a parliamentary comment by the ANC’s Ntando Maduna, who urged the government to establish a public corruption database.
The topic was raised during the Special Investigating Unit’s presentation of current and active investigations within the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The SIU detailed several instances where contractors abandon water infrastructure refurbishments.
One of the examples used by the SIU was the City of Tshwane’s Rooiwal Waste Water Works, where refurbishments had to be abandoned after 27 officials were red-flagged for further lifestyle audits.
The contract was awarded to CMS Water, NJR, and Blackhead Consulting.
However, the municipality terminated the contract in July 2022 due to non-delivery.
READ MORE: Tshwane moves to blacklist companies involved in failed Rooiwal project
“When these CMS officials are implicated in some cases or entities, you are told that they are no longer there, or you find that they have moved to some critical position in another government department,” said Maduna.
“We cannot have that because if you were not held accountable in your previous position, what will you do in the next one?”
Zibi said he has been speaking with the Presidency to develop solutions to assist with the vetting process.
“I will be speaking to the Presidency to speak on two things. First, the length of time it takes to vet officials. I have instances where officials are reported after they are gone, and it is not even known that they are gone.
“We will also address the regularity of lifestyle audits. We need to categorise the kind of people that need lifestyle audits, because a person can pass a lifestyle audit this year and join the fun next year.”
ALSO READ:
