South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was “ultimately responsible” for the milking millions of dollars in Covid-19 funds at the health ministry as revealed in this week’s Special Investigating Unit report, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday.
The damning report revealed that an US$11-million communication contract was corruptly awarded to Digital Vibes with the approval of former health minister Zweli Mkhize despite the cabinet having assigned all Covid-19 media awareness campaigns to the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).
Mkhize went ahead to award Digital Vibes the multi-billion contract and some of the proceeds of the scandal found their way into the pockets of the minister’s family and his close associates, the report said.
DA health spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube said it was now clear that the National Prosecuting Authority has enough evidence to investigate Mkhize, director-general Sandile Buthelezi and other senior officials.
“What has become very clear to us is that the African National Congress government has become an extension of the ANC which is a criminal syndicate,” Gwarube said.
She added: “People who were entrusted with rolling out health services during the world’s deadliest pandemic were the very people who are now implicated in looting millions of public money.”
Gwarube urged newly-appointed Health Minister Joe Phaahla “to clean up the rot” in the ministry with the immediate removal of all those implicated in the Digital Vibes corruption scandal pending a criminal investigation.
She added that the “ultimate responsibility” laid with the president for allowing the Digital Vibes scandal to take place.
Ramaphosa denied that the report took a long time to release, saying there were things that needed to be corrected.
But he admitted that the scandal “is a matter of concern.”
NM/jn/APA