Durban - Corruption involving more than R30.8 million saw 746 KwaZulu-Natal civil servants reported to the police, KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu said on Thursday.
Mchunu, speaking at a meeting of the province's head of departments and supply chain managers in Cedara, north of Pietermaritzburg, said these figures were for the 2012/13 financial year.
During the same period, 546 civil servants were convicted and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.
“Fraud and corruption are a cancer which, if not arrested, has potential to irreparably harm the standing of our province and its reputation among its citizens, making our people lose faith in the future of our democratic country.”
The cases were taken to the police by the provincial treasury's integrity unit, which was tasked with fighting corruption.
“In the first quarter of 2014 (April to June), 274 public servants were subjected to disciplinary hearings for grant-related fraud and 78 for fraud and theft. The hearings continue.”
He said that unlike the apartheid era when government's dealings were shrouded in secrecy, the current government was prepared to lay bare the problems it faced.
“Ours is a government that is declaring war openly against corruption and we invite the public to join us in the fight,” he said.
He said that during the provincial government's previous term (2009 to 2014) cyber crime cost the government R179 million.
Sapa