It is very concerning that MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management, Tasneem Motara does not appear to be fazed by allegations that a criminal syndicate may be operating in her department.
This comes at a great cost to our residents and other government departments who are dependent on the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) to build and maintain our social infrastructure.
According to recent media reports, there may be a criminal syndicate operating within the upper echelons of DID. There are allegations that this may have impacted the project to refurbish the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, the spending of half a billion Rand on the Anglo-Gold Ashanti Hospital to create just 181 ICU beds and the building of structures to accommodate 1400 additional Covid beds at several hospitals using Alternative Building Technology (ABT).
In response to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), the MEC indicated that she was not aware of these allegations and therefore, the department had not taken any steps to investigate these claims.
In an environment where many infrastructure projects are targeted by crooked politicians, officials and tenderpreneurs, it is unacceptable that MEC Motara is not taking the conservative approach to investigate these allegations, even after she has been made aware of them.
Both the President and Premier Makhura have lamented the fact that corruption and poor skills have prevented infrastructure development from creating jobs and providing services, but one must question whether this is just political propaganda in light of MEC Motara’s indifference and disinterested attitude towards investigating alleged corruption. This lends weight to the proposal that GDID must be dissolved and MEC Motara relieved of her duties.
In the interim, the DA will continue to put pressure on MEC Motara and Premier Makhura to ensure that DID takes its mandate seriously and deals robustly with wastage, inefficiency, and corruption.