On behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, and indeed the rest of the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG), I extend a warm welcome to you all. We are proud to host Gauteng’s first International Fraud Awareness Seminar.
This event forms part of the International Fraud Awareness Week, which is the initiative of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners that runs from the 12th to the 17th of this month.
International research has proven that fraud is prevalent both in the public and private sector. As a result organisations around the world lose an estimated 5% of their annual revenue to fraud. We are in this together, that is why there is a need for the public and private sector to work very closely to develop and implement strategies aimed at combating this challenge.
Our participation in this gathering reaffirms our outmost commitment to fighting fraud and corruption. We cannot allow some amongst us to operate with impunity. Our efforts are guided by the Gauteng Anti-Corruption Strategic Framework, which makes provision for, amongst other things, that all reported cases of corruption are fully investigated and maximum penalties are applied to perpetrators, blacklisting of corrupt officials and service providers, the establishment of a centralised electronic database of cases of fraud and corruption and provision of whistle-blower protection services to public servants and the public.
Implementation of the anti-fraud strategy gaining momentum
The implementation of the provincial government anti-fraud and corruption strategy is progressing as planned. In the next few weeks the Gauteng Provincial Treasury will embark on a process to verify all employees of the provincial government to ensure that salaries are paid to authentic employees.
This process will enable us to maintain the accuracy of the payroll system, match bank account details with authentic officials and detect and prevent any fraudulent transactions. In this way we will improve the efficiency in the management of our human capital, maximize production and avoid over expenditure. The implementation of this project will start with the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, followed by the Gauteng Department of Finance and then the Gauteng Department of Health, before it is rolled out to the entire provincial.
In June this year, we announced that the process of procuring goods and services is being tightened. This is precisely because fraud manifests itself in supply chain management processes. In this regard we have engaged the State Security Agency to conduct a thorough vetting process of all supply chain management officials in the provincial government.
This is already underway and officials in Department of Community Safety, Department of Economic Development, Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Treasury, Gauteng Department of Finance, Gauteng Department of Agriculture Rural Development and the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation have already been vetted.
Boosting investigative capacity to achieve results
In the first six months of this financial year, Gauteng received a total of 42 cases of alleged fraud and corruption through the National Anti-Corruption Hotline, 30 of these cases were reported in the second quarter. These cases ranged from corruption, fraud, procurement irregularities, misappropriation of funds, unethical behaviour, reckless driving, appointment irregularities and theft.
In an effort to eliminate backlog and increase the rate of case resolution in the province, 70 officials are undergoing advanced investigation training. This is intended to, amongst others, provide the principles / procedures of forensic investigation and establish in-depth knowledge of specific investigation techniques and methods.
We want to see action be taken against those who will be found guilty, even if people need to be criminally charged and prosecuted. Our view is that this will send a strong message that fraud and corruption will not be tolerated under any circumstances, no matter the status and position of the person involved. As we have said before, we must be aggressive and go after those who operate with impunity and pillage the resources of the state.
Indeed the net is tightening for those who continue to plunder public resources. Over the past three years many employees and service providers either lost their jobs, were criminally charged or blacklisted after being found guilty of fraud and corruption in the provincial government:
- Finance official at the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was dismissed for making deliberate duplicate payments to a service provider.
- A service provider was blacklisted by the Gauteng Department of Finance for tender irregularities, a letter has been dispatched to National Treasury.
- A finance practitioner at the Gauteng Department of Finance was arrested and dismissed for fraudulent use of GPG employees personal details to obtain loans, credit cards and mortgage bonds.
- A human resource team leader at the Gauteng Department of Finance was arrested and dismissed for appointing ghost teachers whose salaries were paid to his syndicate.
These and many other cases demonstrate our commitment to fight fraud and corruption decisively:
But we need to do more. That is why we are also prioritising the following:
- Lack of proper management systems to monitor or deal with corruption e.g. nepotism both in the local government institutions and the provincial government departments.
- Staff’s lack of knowledge and awareness about corruption and its manifestations.
- Individual units not working as teams across departments and municipalities.
- Lack of cooperation with other sectors - business and civil society.
- Departments do not have capacity to deal effectively with cases referred from the National Anti-Corruption Hotline.
John Sukazi
Tel: 011 355 2161
Cell: 083 772 4885
E-mail: john.sukazi@gauteng.gov.za
