Cape Town - The number of cases involving serious allegations of corruption in the government has almost doubled since last year, according to figures released by the interministerial committee on information and publicity.
Interministerial committees have been set up to promote South Africa abroad and to inform South Africans about government programmes.
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said they would hold weekly media briefings in addition to the twice-weekly cabinet briefings.
Briefing the media on Wednesday, he said the anti-corruption team, overseen by the interministerial committee on graft, had made “great strides” in the fight to root out the problem.
The figures bore this out, he said.
“It depends what levels of corruption it is, but the stats indicate that. They are able in investigations to unearth these misdemeanours.”
The government recorded 548 incidents and allegations by the end of March this year, compared with 300 by March last year.
That the team had exceeded its target was a measure of the work the team was doing.
“The task team also had a target to initiate 150 criminal investigations on serious corruption-related charges involving more than R5 million. By the end of March, 828 persons were under criminal, financial or forensic investigation.”
On the vetting of officials with tainted backgrounds, Radebe said there were capacity challenges in the Department of State Security, which performed these checks.
“I know they are creating that capacity so that officials who get employed in the public service can be properly vetted.”
Radebe said the task team on corruption had secured orders to freeze the assets of 68 people by the end of March. The value of these assets was R1.3 billion, while the target had been R1bn.
“The great strides we have made bears testimony and (lends) credence to our decision to declare the fight to stop corruption a priority. The establishment of the anti-corruption task team... is proving to be an effective tool to achieve successful prosecutions.”
Political Bureau