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Speaker must launch probe into Eastern Cape Legislature systemic corruption allegations

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Dear Editor

Eastern Cape Legislature Speaker Helen Sauls-August must take immediate and decisive action after damning prima facie evidence submitted by a senior whistleblower to various Chapter 9 institutions and Provincial Treasury has blown the lid off alleged systemic corruption in the Eastern Cape Legislature.

The allegations are damning, severely eroding public trust. Money meant to ensure government departments were held accountable and that essential services reached the people, has instead been turned into a feeding-trough for the connected elite, betraying the people the institution was meant to serve.

Evidence that has been submitted includes:

  • An allegedly unauthorised payment of R3,816 million to the ANC on the 11th of September, to which they were not entitled;
  • A failure to effect ICT upgrades in the Legislature Chamber despite being allocated R4 million to do so in 2021. The costing of these upgrades have ballooned to R16m whilst two handpicked service providers are being paid R85 000 per sitting;
  • Evidence of backdated expenditure reports, procurement deviations to favour select suppliers, and promotions for union leaders after they questioned the qualifications of secretariat staff;
  • Deliberately misleading Provincial Treasury when requesting additional funds with respect to the actual cost of the Opening of the Legislature in Ntabankulu;
  • Regular use of unqualified suppliers;
  • Interference to by-pass tender processes, such as the appointment of a facilitator for R348,000 for a staff strategic session. This facilitator ranked third from the bid adjudication on both price and points, whilst a higher scored facilitator quoted R171,000;
  • A staff training session for 75 staff held in Nelson Mandela Bay at the cost of millions wherein around half of the staff didn’t attend, the session could have been held at the Legislature precinct without venue, travel and accommodation costs;
  • A R54,000-per-head “strategic session” for HR officials at Sun City;

These allegations point to a Legislature captured by corruption, and wasteful spending, severely eroding public trust in this institution. Urgent intervention is required to restore accountability and safeguard public resources.

I will be tabling a motion in the House today, calling on the Speaker, in line with Section 69 of the Financial Management of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, to immediately appoint an independent law firm to investigate these damning allegations.

I will also be writing to the Speaker in this regard.

Failing to act will allow those implicated to tamper with evidence and undermine any chance of justice.

The people of the Eastern Cape deserve a Legislature that serves them, not one that enriches those in control of the Institution at their expense. The time for decisive action is now.

Regards

Yusuf Cassim MPL
DA Chief Whip in the Eastern Cape Legislature

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