- 182 cases pending
- 32 go back 10 to 18 years
- Backlog blamed on resource constraints
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
Most public servants who sit on government procurement committees are on payrolls of private companies that win multi-million pula tenders, the Director General of DCEC has said.
Answering a question from the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Governance and Oversight, Mabuse Pule, Tymon Katlholo said some public officers are indeed on the payrolls of private companies.
“It is true some procurement officers in government are on payrolls of some companies,” the Director General of DCEC said. “This is an issue that exists and some of the people involved are already in court.”
Katlholo also told the parliamentary committee that DCEC received 69 reports of possible corruption in COVID-19 procurement between April 2020 and May this year. He expressed concern over the slow rate of prosecution of these cases, which he blamed on limited resources, and disclosed that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has a backlog of more than 182 such cases, 38 of which date as far back as 10 to 18 years.
“This means that any case sent to DPP will take longer to be resolved due to this backlog,” Katlholo said.