Cape Town - The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has uncovered a scam of using dead people’s IDs on the eNatis database to avoid paying what can be very high costs in terms of licences etc, says the Ministry in the Presidency.
Briefing the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on referrals made by the SIU, Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluations’ Jonathan Timm said the corruption-busting body has made a total of 41 187 referrals for administrative action in 2020-21 and 24 782 the following year – bringing the number to 65 969.
He said a vast majority of referrals relate to removal of deceased persons from the eNatis database.
“There is an interesting story how the SIU identified a kind of a scam that utilises the transferring money owed to deceased ID numbers on eNatis database thus allowing the kind of cleansing and allow people to avoid paying what can be very high cost in terms of licences etc, particularly in the trucking industry,” Timm said.
The SIU has been engaging with eNatis to remove 41 000 in 2020-21 dealt with and 24 000 were in the process of being dealt with.
“That leaves us with 650 referrals for admin action outside of that.”
Timm also said 353 were referred to accounting officers with recommendation for blacklisting of suppliers and 299 referrals to the regulatory bodies to determine sanction.
There were two referrals where the executive authorities have been recipients of the referrals.
Timm said the 353 referrals for administrative action related to placing suppliers on the National Treasury’s restricted supplier register.
“These referrals are made to the accounting officers of the relevant institutions of state, which in turn need to request the National Treasury to add the suppliers to the restricted supplier register.”
Of the 353, only 16 appeared on the restricted list and all were from the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority.
Timm said they have a number of interventions they were collectively pushing to move dial on compliance for blacklisting.
“A task team has been formed to fast-track the processes required for actioning these recommendations for black-listing suppliers.”
The MPs heard that the Ministry in the Presidency noted a low level of compliance by departments on updating the status of disciplinary cases on the Personnel and Salary (Persal) management system.
The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) reported poor compliance with its quarterly reporting on disciplinary cases.
On the PPE referrals, Timm said analysis showed that officials who resigned to avoid sanction have not been properly recorded on Persal.
“Persal must record if you resigned to avoid disciplinary action. Any future employer should be able access that on Persal and have a red flag to make you account for that,” he explained.
A presentation made to Scopa showed that 463 referrals were made for disciplinary action between April 2021 and March 2022 with 202 cases coming for KwaZulu-Natal.
A total of 176 referrals related to PPE and 48 have been concluded with 24 resulting in guilty findings.
It also said 562 referrals were made to the National Prosecuting Authority in 2021-22.
SIU head Andy Mothibi said they were delighted that there was a system that helped monitor the consequence management and the SIU referrals.
“This is really going to help us and help the government beyond the SIU work. It will assist in building a capable and ethical state,” Mothibi said.
He noted that municipalities did not use Persal.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said: “It is good work so far complex as it is. It is the right step in the right direction.”
Cape Times