Four Gauteng Department of Economic Development employees have been paid R7.1 million to sit at home and do nothing. This is a waste of public funds that could have been used to serve the people. In its own way, it is unchecked corruption.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is appalled by this shocking revelation in a reply given by Gauteng MEC Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, which can be seen here.
The employees were charged with offences ranging from fraud, theft, bribery, misuse of a petrol card and absenteeism. The duration of the suspensions was:
5 years and 1 month in one case;
3 years and 11 months in another case; and
4 years and 2 months in a third case.
The fourth case took three months, but this can be regarded as normal. If the department could handle this one case in a normal time frame, why were these other three cases allowed to drag on? This is grossly unacceptable. Those in charge should be fired.
In the three cases above, the costs to the taxpayer were R1 412 146.18, R3 463 485.81 and R1 712 319.84. Two of the four cases ended in dismissal and two of the cases have not yet been finalised. In these two matters, the suspensions have been lifted, presumably because of the DA’s question.
The MEC should hang his head in shame. His department should have finalised all these cases given the severity of the charges. The DA will follow up on this matter so that justice can be done.
Once more, Lesufi’s government has demonstrated that it doesn’t have the will to stamp out rampant corruption. His executive is either incompetent or complicit.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would finalise cases and stamp out corruption. More public money would then be available to spend on public services.