Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Special Investigating Unit has managed to recover public money and assets amounting to R2.6 billion between 2013 and 2021.
The unit has also managed to set aside contracts to the value of R18 billion and referred matters worth R81 billion for civil litigation in the High Court and the Special Tribunal.
On Thursday, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola lauded the unit for being one of the government’s “success stories” in the fight against corruption.
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Lamola was speaking at the SIU’s 25th anniversary celebration in Boksburg, Gauteng.
The minister said, through the SIU, those who were corrupt had been dealt with.
“Looted monies and proceeds of corruption were also recovered and channelled to the cause of transforming the lives of our people.
“The SIU has evolved rapidly in recent years and spared no effort in bringing perpetrators to book and recovering the proceeds of their misdeeds, sending a strong message that corruption does not pay.”
Lamola said the investigating unit had achieved significant recoveries by combining quality investigations with civil litigation.
“To date, the SIU is one of the government’s success stories in the fight against corruption.”
Lamola also spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic and how some rogue business people and government officials had seen an opportunity to enrich themselves through corrupt means.
And when President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the unit to investigate the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in state institutions, Lamola said the SIU had “diligently executed the task, and stolen state money was recovered and continues to be recovered”.
He said the SIU had enrolled 48 matters – all related to Covid-19 procurement corruption and maladministration, and worth R2.2 billion – with the Special Tribunal.
The minister added:
In just three years, the Special Tribunal had adjudicated cases referred to it by the SIU amounting to R8.6 billion in unlawful contracts.
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Lamola said that, given the SIU’s success, there was a need to bolster the resources and capacity of the SIU and other anti-corruption agencies to enable the country to “conquer the scourge of corruption”.
“As a government, we want to do away with the perception that we are soft on corruption, particularly among our ranks. The SIU thus represents a real opportunity to make a difference in the fight against corruption, continuously working to protect the ideals for which a countless number of people sacrificed their lives for.”
Meanwhile, the head of the SIU, advocate Andy Mothibi, said they wanted to ensure that they continued to be the state’s preferred anti-corruption, forensic investigation and litigation agency.
“We would like to continue being preferred so that we find a one-stop shop in this house, in this unit. As we investigate, we are conclusive, we can refer for disciplinary, we can refer for litigation, we can refer for prosecution, we can recover, and we can even recommend systemic improvement.”
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