By: Nosipho Haya-Komisa
Eastern Cape Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko has expressed concern over government officials who are doing business with the provincial government and municipalities in the province.
This after it was discovered that about ten state employees from provincial and local government were implicated in COVID-19 related business with the provincial government.
Mvoko said all the employees who are doing business with the state are violating the regulations. He has since called for action to be taken against the implicated employees.
“Doing business with the government while you are the employee of the same government that pays your salary constitutes a serious breach of government regulations. To address this, Head of Provincial Treasury has written injunction letters on Conflict of Interest to all affected institutions to demand immediate action,” said Mvoko.
Mvoko said the conduct by the affected officials constitutes a conflict of interest and therefore exposes them to criminal prosecution in terms of the Public Administration Management Act (PAMA), which came into effect on 01 April 2019.
Mvoko has also ordered all the affected departments to respond in writing to the Provincial Treasury before the 19th of August 2020, and indicate the application of consequence management.
“All those who are in the value chain of our supply chain processes must be made to account. Furthermore, the Department should also mention what measures it has implemented to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future,” said Mvoko.
Last week the provincial government published a list of companies that have benefited from COVID-19-related procurement in the province. Provincial Treasury vowed that it will continue to monitor potential cases of conflict of interest, including COVID-19 procurement.