Our focus and efforts continue to be on the fight against corruption and we will be holding the Gauteng Anti Corruption Summit on November 24. In keeping with the current government's resolve to deal "swiftly and effectively" with corruption - both within the private and public sectors, the Gauteng Provincial Government has partnered with civil society organizations and municipalities in the province to host this Anti-Corruption Summit.
Over the past few months, the Gauteng Department of Finance has been engaged in the ongoing process of strengthening internal controls in the Gauteng Provincial Government and municipalities to detect and prevent fraud and corruption; and protect the resources and public image of government in the province.
Our efforts are guided by the 2009 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 whistleblower protection services to public servants and the public.
Implementation of the strategy
The goal of the broader plan is to achieve operational efficiencies, improve financial reporting and ensure compliance with applicable legislation, including the Public Finance Management Act, Municipal Finance Management Act and Treasury Regulations.
Therefore, the anti corruption strategy is implemented at two levels -operational and transactional - to achieve the best results in important areas, including supply chain management and contract management.
At operational level, a zero tolerance approach to corruption has been adopted. The Forensic Services Unit has been mandated to conduct thorough investigations of all suspected cases of fraud and corruption. The following are evidence that indeed the net is tightening for those who continue to pillage public resources. During the 2009/2010 financial year the forensic services unit concluded the following investigations, demonstrating our commitment to fight fraud and corruption decisively:
Gauteng Department of Finance
1. A service provider was blacklisted for tender irregularities, a letter has been dispatched to National Treasury;
2. A Finance Practitioner was arrested and dismissed for fraudulent use of GPG employees personal details to obtain loans, credit cards and mortgage bonds;
3. A Human Resource Team Leader was arrested and dismissed for appointing ghost teachers whose salaries were paid to his syndicate.
Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
1. Finance official dismissed for making deliberate duplicate payments to a service provider;
2. Kopanong Hospital: official given a final written warning and one month's suspension without pay.
Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development
1. Official dismissed and criminally charged for making fraudulent payments.
Gauteng Department of Education
2. Official charged with misconduct and given one month salary fine;
3. Official charged with misconduct, given a final written warning and one month salary fine;
4. Kalafong Hospital: official given a final written warning and three month suspension without pay.
At transaction level, processes and financial systems are being streamlined to detect and prevent incidents of overpayments to suppliers and avoid duplicate payments.
We are engaged in an intensive process to clear our system of duplicate, erroneous, partially delivered and undelivered purchase orders from current and previous financial years. The overall goal, through this process, is to establish accurate expenditure commitment and accruals to enable proper cash flow management and budgeting.
In addition, measures are being taken to clean procurement services, implement an early detection system to deal with cases of fronting whenever they appear and enhance transparency in tender awarding processes. This is particularly why we have published on our website, as per the promise we made during the last media quarterly briefing session, the report indication tenders that we have issued and the names of companies that these were awarded to. The Gauteng Anti-Corruption Summit to be held on the 24th November at the Birchwood Hotel will elaborate on these measures, as well as develop a common plan of action and social mobilisation against corruption involving government, labour, business and other civil society sectors.
All of these efforts show that this government is fully committed fighting corruption and to enhance management of resources in order to accelerate the delivery of quality services to the public. To this end, we are also working with the Office of the Premier, the Department of Health and Social Development to put in place systems that will ensure that going into the future, departments will spend in line with their allocated budgets and projections. Further information on this will be contained in the Adjusted Estimates of Provincial Expenditure that we will table this week.
Decent employment by facilitating and contributing to inclusive economic growth
Our ongoing efforts to grow the economy and create jobs through facilitating an enabling environment for small businesses are progressing as planned. The Integrated Business Plan for the Gauteng Link Broadband Project has been completed and approved by Cabinet; moving us one step closer to creating technological infrastructure that supports business activity and growth.
Every Wednesday between 30 and 40 companies attend our free weekly tender workshops, which provide entrepreneurs with many tools including tips on how to fill tender documents and tender evaluation processes. Through these workshops, we have provided small business owners with valuable knowledge; and this has helped them access economic opportunities both in the private and public sectors.
Figures from our Vendor Management, Development and Training Unit indicate that a total of 486 small and medium size enterprises (SMMEs) attended the free workshops between March and September this year.
While significant progress has been made in empowering small and medium enterprises our quarterly targets of 80% HDI, 30% Women, 10% Youth and 5% People With Disability have not been met. We therefore urge owners of small businesses in the province to take this opportunity and attend the workshops as the tools they receive could help them access many economic opportunities and expand their companies in line with their aspirations.
Enquiries:
Khusela Sangoni
Head of Communications
Gauteng Department of Finance
Cell: 079 510 5408
E-mail: gdfmedia@gauteng.gov.za
