Gauteng Transport’s Anti-corruption Drive Must Include Municipalities

During the recent launch of the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport campaign against fraud and corruption, Transport MEC Ismail Vadi admitted that public cynicism played an important role in inhibiting successful public participation.

The question remains how such a campaign would be enforced, and how deeply committed to rooting out corruption officials in the Department of Roads and Transport are.

According to DA information, two key senior officials responsible for testing, licensing and the issue of permits were not present at the launch, and did not sign the anti-fraud and corruption undertakings.

This must surely be urgently investigated.
The DA believes that the focus of investigations should include local government, and the artificial firewalls between the different spheres of government should fall away to allow wider and more intense scrutiny of corruption on this level.

Although municipal mayoral committee members were allowed to sign the declaration, they were “otherwise engaged” and their future participation is uncertain.

The DA welcomes indications of the successful prosecution of a number of officials for corruption, but one government department playing the game is not enough.

Official corruption is the scourge of job creation and economic growth, and, while MEC Vadi deserves support for his initiative, the entire provincial administration has an obligation to act against corruption.

 

Media enquiries:

Justus de Goede MPL

DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Transport

060 558 8305

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