The Democratic Alliance (DA) said that it would write to President Cyril Ramaphosa to ask him to include Gauteng PPE tenders for SIU investigation.
The party said that all COVID-19 service contracts that were awarded by the Gauteng Health Department should be included in the Special Investigative Unit proclamation announced by Ramaphosa last week.
These include a controversial R124 million PPE tender that was awarded to Royal Bhaca Projects, which is connected to the husband of Presidency spokesperson, Khusela Diko.
Siviwe Gwarube, the DA’s Health spokesperson said:
“Therefore we believe that all contracts that have been awarded during this period, if they have anything to do with COVID-19 services, must be reviewed by the SIU as a matter of urgency. Our belief is that we cannot allow these inappropriate contracts to be retrospectively investigated.”
Last week, President Ramaphosa said that he had signed a proclamation to empower the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to clamp down on corruption involving COVID-19 funds.
Ramaphosa added that there were already 36 investigations underway, which included fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) claims and overpricing of procurement and fake NGOs. And nine financial intelligence and security agencies have come together to fast track investigations.
