President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to investigate the misuse of funds earmarked for the temporary employment scheme (Ters) from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
The SIU had an agreement with the department of labour to investigate the tender awarded by the government to advertise the temporary employment scheme payments. It applied for authorisation from the president after uncovering a number of irregularities in the payments to people or parties who did not qualify for them.
The unit said the president’s proclamations authorised it to “unleash its legislative powers to subpoena bank statements and cellphone records, search and seize evidence, and interrogate witnesses under oath”.
“The SIU will now use all its legislative powers to get to the bottom of Ters payments and hold those responsible to account.”
Spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said once the investigation was under way, the SIU would have a better idea of the amount of money that had been misappropriated.
A second proclamation signed by Ramaphosa allows the SIU to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration at eThekwini metropolitan municipality after a whistleblower came forward.
The investigation is looking at allegations of corruption in a housing deal meant for people who did not qualify for an RDP house but also did not earn enough to qualify for a bank loan.
The investigation will look at whether land was transferred from the municipality lawfully and if the properties were awarded to buyers fairly, as it appears to be in breach of the developers’ contractual obligations and contrary to the objectives of the municipality’s housing programme.
The SIU is also looking into Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, an agency of the Gauteng provincial government that is supposed to support small business. The investigation will look into a tender awarded to the organisation for the township entrepreneur awards held in 2017 and a second tender linked to an event that took place in Sedibeng in 2018.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.