The DA calls for the swift investigation and prosecution of 6,000 more State employees, found by the Special Investigations Unit to have unlawfully received the special Temporary Employment Relief grant during the COVID-19 Pandemic, while simultaneously receiving their government salary or remuneration.

An amount of R350 million is believed to have been stolen from the people of South Africa by this callous fraud, committed by State employees.

The SIU revealed to Parliament last week that over 6,000 state employees benefited from the TERS benefit, while also being paid by the state, through acts of fraud and corruption, which must be investigated and prosecuted.

Investigations into all 6,000 cases must now be undertaken by the Public Service Commission. The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Commission, requesting him to launch this probe without delay.

It must also be investigated as to whether officials at the Unemployment Insurance Fund, which administered the TERS payouts, contributed to this fraud, or played a role in the corruption of the process.

The Head of the SIU, Advocate Andy Mothibi, emphasised out of the SIU's investigation that government employees manipulated the system for personal financial gain.

At the highest office of ANC Government, the Presidency, former Spokesperson Khusela Diko was herself implicated in an irregular PPE contract with her husband, and stepped down from her role, showing the heights from which the pandemic relief funds were plundered, misappropriated, and corrupted.

It appears that across Departments, State employees living in all nine Provinces cashed in on Pandemic Relief funds meant for those desperately in need, for their own selfish enrichment. Gauteng-based State employees were found to have been most implicated, with 1,665 cases in that Province alone.

The DA will push for the Public Service Commission to process these investigations, and hand them over to the police for prosecution, as soon as possible.