DURBAN - Parliamentary questions has been submitted by the Democratic Alliance to KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu after senior officials from his office were implicated in forensic investigation.
The audit revealed alleged supply chain management inconsistencies of R23 million. The audit findings were given to the Premier this past March and relate to the illegal allocations of contracts to certain companies.
The DA disappointed by the Premier who has shown a lack of action concerning this matter even though he obtained the report earlier this year.
The report made the following recommendations that called on Mchunu to look at the provident or pension funds of the individuals involved with the prospect of reclaiming the funds, investigate the conduct of the employees listed members or company directors that positioned to do trade with the Premier’s office.
Other recommendations that were made include investigating the possibilities that the implicated companies have been in business with other government departments and contemplating the suspension of the senior officials.
According to the recommendations one official instructed department staff to not adhere to handing over information in respect to the probe and evidence that another official, who is implicated in the report, intimidated staff members.
Earlier this year when delivering his State of the Province address Mchunu spoke out against corruption and made promises about consequences for those involved in corruption.
The DA says that the KZN Treasury is constantly overrun with investigations into provincial departments activities but there is no action taken. While delivering his State of the Province address Mchunu said that the provincial treasury’s internal audit unit resulted in 116 cases that needed to be investigated.
The report also implicated other departments including the KZN Department of Economic Development, CoGTA and Public Works because one of the companies involved in the Premier's office probe was awarded contracts of an additional R37 million.