Minister Ronald Lamola: Opening of Special Investigation Unit Office in Northern Cape

The Premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul
Members of the Executive Council
The Executive Mayor of Sol Plaatjie Local Municipality, Cllr Patrick Mabilo
Head of the Special Investigating Unit, Advocate Andy Mothibi
Officials from both Northern Cape Provincial Government and the SIU
Ladies and Gentlemen

Distinguished Guests, I would like to begin by drawing your attention to observations of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) whose mission is to contribute to global peace and security and human rights and development by making the world safer from drugs, corruption and terrorism.

The UNODC observed that corruption hampers the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Corruption diminishes state capacity resulting in nations failing to eradicate poverty, address hunger, secure good health care and high-quality education for their citizens, guarantee gender equality and other human rights as well as reducing inequality.

A 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund estimated the cost of bribery alone to be between 1.5 to 2 trillion US Dollars per year. This represents a total economic loss of approximately 2% of global GDP. And yet, it does not take into account the economic cost of all other forms of corruption.

When we move closer to home, the Stats SA Community Survey of 2016, indicates that this province sits with a population of approximately 1,2 million people. 36, 4 % of these people are youth. The poverty headcount is in the region of 6.6 %. Overall, the expanded unemployment rate is around 40%.

Despite these difficulties, roughly 86% of the population have access to piped water, 70% have access to sanitation and around 89% are connected to electricity.

Premier Dr Saul, I have no doubt that you could probably recite these statistics far better than I can. As a matter of fact, you understand better than most that these are not merely statistics, but the real lived experience of our fellow citizens. This is measure of our ability to deliver on promises of the constitution.

I cite these statistics to drive a point that we should never grow tired of saying that under conditions of diminished state capacity, we will fail to create better lives for our people and eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment.

In other words, there is a strong causal link between corruption and institutions that are ineffective, and unaccountable. As such, reducing all forms of corruption, strengthening the recovery and return of stolen assets, and developing transparent institutions is something we should not compromise on.

Programme Director, we are pleased that the Northern Cape will cease to be the only province in the country without the presence of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). This is another measure by government to strengthen the fight against corruption and maladministration. The opening of the SIU Northern Cape Provincial Office heralds a new era which will ensure improved turnaround time of investigations, reaching of expected legal outcomes and the implementation of SIU recommendations.

Previously, the Northern Cape was serviced by provincial SIU offices in the Free State, North West, and Western Cape. This was a predicament to the work of the SIU, and we are glad that efforts were put in place to resolve the matter, culminating into the opening of this provincial office.

Unfortunately, this period of COVID-19, has proven to be a rather painful illustration that corruption knows no boundaries. Driven by greed, certain individuals in government and the private sector colluded at the expense of you and me. In some instances, we have seen increases of more than 300-percent for some goods and the Personal Protective Equipment.

Some of taxpayers’ monies meant to fight against the pandemic, were regrettably lost to corruption. The impact of this corruption has been felt across all spheres of government. We condemned in strongest possible terms; the looting of resources meant to preserve the lives of our people.

In this regard, the SIU has been seized with investigations across the country, and the wheels of justice are grinding. Those who looted our resources are called to account, through the SIU, accounts have been frozen, payments stopped, and government officials and some leaders were suspended.

We applaud the good work of the SIU in protecting public funds from corrupt elements within society and public service. We have seen the pernicious effect of looting of public funds, resulting in load shedding, lack of access to water by communities and poor public infrastructure.

The work of the SIU, comes alongside positive developments in the fight against corruption, as early as February this year, we had reported to the nation that:
The establishment of the Special Tribunal has enhanced the SIU’s ability to recoup embezzled funds from the state. We applaud the SIU for their biggest recovery to date against ABB South Africa, amounting to R1,5 billion.

Law enforcement agencies coordinating their work through the Fusion Centre, have handled 231 cases or incidents related to COVID-19. Thirty cases were closed after investigations and 31 accused persons are appearing in 14 criminal cases in courts across the country. More than 12 referrals were sent to various departments for disciplinary action for employees involved in irregularities.

Furthermore, R145,6m in 72 bank accounts has been blocked by the Financial Intelligence Centre and R119m has been preserved by the Asset Forfeiture Unit through the Prevention of Organisation Crime Act. The SIU has to date enrolled cases in the Special Tribunal to the value of R 365m and has saved R124m involving supply chain irregularities. The South African Revenue Services recovered R 165m in taxes.

This ladies and gentlemen was the work as at February this year. But the work ahead still remains incredibly difficult and there are many other challenging cases which require a prompt resolution.

To respond to these challenging cases, organizations like the SIU, which are constitutionally empowered to fight against corruption and malfeasance, should spare no effort in bringing perpetrators to book.

We are encouraged that the SIU has shown to have teeth, they have demonstrated through various actions that where public funds are spent against intended purposes or without adhering to prescripts, they will not hesitate to crack the whip.

Preventing and detecting corruption should be our collective priority as leaders of government, and in this regard, we should not just relegate this responsibility to institutions like the SIU. We should demonstrate our commitment to fight and defeat corruption.

Corruption in no doubt, has had a disproportionate impact on South Africans, moreover the poor. We cannot afford to tolerate corruption; it must be tackled where it rears its ugly head. If we continue to endure corruption, we do so at the expense of our democracy and the human rights of our citizens. If we choose the path of impunity, we will be complicit in overseeing an administration that is at the centre of inhumane living conditions.

We therefore cannot, and we must not under any circumstances, negotiate with those who abuse public power for personal gain. There should be no debate with despots, they must find themselves behind bars and their loot must be forfeited to the state.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We can say with some concern that ethical leadership across the board both in government and the private sector is at its lowest point. Sweeping reforms across government are currently being implemented, they will contribute towards isolating corrupt elements. These need to be complemented by reforms in the private sector as well.

Those who enabled the State Capture in the private sector must not only repay the state, their conduct should lead to introduction of institutional reforms to preserve the integrity of many professions.

Program Director:

In capacitating our law enforcement agencies, we are creating an enabling environment which ensures that our enforcement agencies leverage on technology to deter and prevent corruption. Enforcement must be innovative and be competent against sophisticated criminal networks who use latest technology to commit white collar crime.

We have seen the technological capacity of the SIU which will also be used here in the Northern Cape. This is encouraging and more resources should be channeled towards innovation.

Premier, I must say part of the difficulty that I will actively pursue is recovering money which is owed by national and provincial departments as well as municipalities to the SIU. Perhaps time has come for us to ensure that all accounting officers have it engrained in their performance agreements that they must ensure that monies which are owed to the SIU are duly paid. Failure which might lead to audit qualifications.

We cannot continue as normal where an important institution like this needs more Forensic Investigators and Accountants to ensure that we have the skills to match those with deft fingers in the state. Therefore, ensuring that the more than 510 million rands which is owed to the SIU by departments and municipalities is recovered will enable full capacitation of the SIU.

The figure I have mentioned above can be broken down as follows:

  • Local Government, one hundred twenty million five hundred forty-four thousand six hundred seventy-six Rands, this amounts to 24 percent of the total amount owed to the SIU.
  • Provincial Government, ninety-eight million six hundred twenty-nine thousand fifty-two Rands, this amounts to 19 percent of the total amount owed to SIU.
  • National Government, one hundred thirty-four million five hundred eighty-two thousand nine hundred forty-six Rands, this amounts to 26 percent of the total amount owed to SIU.
  • Public entities one hundred fifty-six million nine hundred twenty-six thousand Rands, this amounts to 31 percent of the total amount owed to SIU.


This is matter I will pursue closely, so Premier from now on, when you see a phone call from me, please do not ignore it.

Here in the Northern Cape, the rate of reporting corruption and maladministration to the SIU is low, compared to other provinces. This is understandable taking into consideration that the SIU did not have offices here. However, this should be a thing of the past, I appeal to members of the community to fully utilize these offices and report all allegations of corruption.

Leaders preoccupied with pursuit of self-enrichment at the expense of service delivery must have shivers down their spine with the opening of these offices. They must know that they will face the full might of the law. We know the stance of the Premier, Dr Saul, on corruption. We are looking forward to collaborations with the Northern Cape Provincial Government to fight against this scourge.

The opening of the Northern Cape SIU offices take place during April, which is Freedom Month in South Africa. We celebrate heroes and heroines of our people who waged countless struggles against the apartheid regime. Some even sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy to reign in the country. In their memory, we will ensure that constitutionalism reigns supreme in South Africa.

One of the sacrosanct principles of the constitution is the rule of law, we shall continue to endeavour that no one undermines this principle.

I want to congratulate the SIU for opening offices here in the Northern Cape, continue investigating serious malpractice, corruption, malfeasance and maladministration in relation to the administration of state institutions, state assets and public money as well as any conduct which may seriously harm the interest of the state and public, you have our support.

I thank you!

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