In this letter to the president, organisations raise concerns about corruption during the Covid-19 crisis.
We, the undersigned organisations, commend you for the decisive action taken over the last few weeks in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.
The lockdown has made apparent the deep schism that exists between those who have access to data and those who don’t. It has allowed existing social tensions, such as xenophobia, to be reasserted, as the margin to access resources becomes smaller. Already in communities, there have been numerous reports of how simple food parcel distribution processes are being manipulated – not by hungry people who desperately need food, but by political actors who want to use humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip.
What assurances do we have in future that money intended for water tanks in communities will not be stolen by a state official, or that the price of sanitisers for reopened schools will not be highly inflated? – We believe government can draw in civil society organisations active in the fight against corruption to play a monitoring role and be granted access to information in order to do so.
– The Auditor General’s offer to send in experts to monitor how the R500-billion is spent by government departments and municipalities should be accepted. – Parliament should exercise its powers of oversight over the executive more effectively. The institution was rightly criticised for shutting down and abandoning its oversight role during a period which called for far greater monitoring and oversight.– Government should establish in conjunction with civil society an anti-corruption hotline/online service, specifically in relation to Covid-19.
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