East Cape News (Grahamstown)
Taralyn Bro
27 March 2003
Grahamstown — The Department of Social Development and the Public Service Monitor (PSAM) have expressed delight over the arrest by the Joint Anti-Corruption Unit of 19 people in Umtata, East London and Port Elizabeth this morning.
The department this morning called for "stiff" sentences for officials or former officials convicted of fraud and corruption.
Department Spokesman Gcobani Maswana told ECN it would be of great "comfort" to the department to see crooked civil servants convicted.
ECN learned that most of those arrested were former department officials.
Maswana said: "We are very happy about the arrests of officials defrauding the department, of any people stealing funds, and of any people denting the image of the department." He said that the government was making every effort to uproot fraud and corruption in the province.
He said those arrested had been dismissed from the department months ago and reported to the criminal justice system by the department.
This was an ongoing process and "hundreds" of people were being investigated.
He also said most of the fraud against the department was carried out by members of the public who lied about their social position.
"People wrongfully collect pensions. They say they have children when they don't, or they say they earn nothing when they actually do (earn a wage)." He said the department's monitoring unit was exposing these social fibs by visiting families and checking with communities.
Also, communities and NGOs were volunteering information to the department which were then followed-up.
He said officials and members of the public had defrauded the department of a confirmed R21m between 1995 and 2002.
PSAM director Colm Allan also welcomed the arrests.
He told ECN this morning: "We congratulate the Scorpions and the anti-corruption unit for the increasing number of arrests which has set a precedent that corruption will not be tolerated. This is critical to demonstrating and promoting good governance in the province and ensuring effective service delivery." ECN learned that the PSAM has been assissting the unit, who are believed to making good use of PSAM's comprehensive website www.psam.ru.ac.za
Mike Loewe Editor, director East Cape News (Pty) Ltd
email: editor@ecn.co.za news@ecn.co.za
tel: 046 6361013 cel: 082 569 1167 fax: 046 6361050
East Cape News (Pty) Ltd Grahamstown East Cape South Africa
Postal address: ECN
Box 897 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 East Cape News. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
