Africa-Press – South-Africa. The government has promised tighter control of procurement resources to shield against corruption as the national state of disaster is rolled out to help cushion lives, the economy, and businesses from load shedding.
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the national state of disaster in his State of the Nation Address, there has been growing concern about the possibility of corruption.
On Friday, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the regulations published in line with the disaster included ongoing audits by the Auditor-General (AG).
She added in addition to the AG, accounting officers must report monthly to Parliament if they bypassed procurement regulations in line with the national state of disaster.
Dlamini-Zuma said the Covid-19 pandemic was a learning curve for the government and real-time auditing was crucial to curbing corruption.
“The issue of emergency procurement. We will try and ensure that the use of emergency procurement is not abused, which is why the Auditor-General will do real-time auditing.
“But also, we have said the accounting officers would have to report to Parliament if they used emergency procurement according to these regulations.”
Dlamini-Zuma was present at a media briefing on Friday, alongside Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, to help outline the outcomes of a special Cabinet meeting held on Monday, which finalised the regulations.
She said the declaration of a national state of disaster was inevitable because of the impact of load shedding on the public and many sectors.
Dlamini-Zuma added the government had no choice but to take this route as load shedding increased with time.
“[This] as a way of minimising the impact we had declared. The regulations are there to minimise that impact and assist Eskom in doing some of the things as normal legislation may be slower. Through the national disaster, they will be able to do them faster.
“That is why the regulations emphasise that health infrastructure is exempted. Small businesses have closed all those things the regulations will try and assist,” she said.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla, whose sector remains under pressure from load shedding, added the regulations would exempt 213 critical healthcare facilities nationwide from load shedding.
So far, only about 137 hospitals have been exempted, and the remainder has experienced delays because of outstanding infrastructure.
Some hospitals are supplied by Eskom and others by municipalities, making the finalisation of exemption difficult.
“We are looking at the kinds of facilities where high-level key emergencies must be taken care of, which include major operations, ICUs. Two-hundred-thirteen of these facilities were identified as a priority, not that the more than 5 000 clinics are not important, but this was to identify the most essential,” Phaahla said.
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He added all 213 priority facilities should be completely exempted by June, saying for now, it was about priority hospitals, and with time other facilities might be added.
Phaahla said there had been no recorded reports of people dying at home or in hospitals because of the impact of load shedding.
During the briefing, Dlamini-Zuma also addressed the crime issue, saying Police Minister Bheki Cele could decide whether to disperse additional police resources because of the regulations.
“On the issue of crime, regulation 51c does talk to security, so it is up to the minister to make sure there are directions that speak to that.
“Even the deployment of security and the police depends on where there are hot spots and load shedding. But the regulations do give them that space,” she said.
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