The EFF condemns the R34.9 billion irregular, corrupt and wasteful expenditure in the public works department
29 September 2014
The Economic Freedom Fighters condemns the irregular, corrupt and wasteful expenditure uncovered at the Department of Public Works amounting to R34. 9 billion. This is a further confirmation of the chronic kleptomania that has characterized the ANC government for a number of years now. It demonstrates that we are not dealing to an accident of a few people or families, but a crisis that has actually been normalised. It means corruption has been turned into a way of life for the ANC government whose officials live off public funds.
The reports state that "around R22-billion was lost in the 2009/10 financial year, R4.9-billion was lost in 2010/11 while R3.8-billion was lost in the 2011/12 period. The figure was R3.1-billion in 2012/13 and R600-million in the last year. Around R1.1-billion was lost to fraudulent activities". This is clearly a long tradition, a way of life and a consistent history of the kleptomania of the ANC government. It is the clearest sign yet that the ANC risks South Africa becoming an arrogant one-party democracy and kleptocratic state where its officials break the law with impunity.
It is noteworthy also that these amounts include the funds that were wrongfully used to benefit President Zuma and his family in the security upgrades of his Nkandla home. Therefore, his disrespect and disregard of remedial actions as per the recommendations of the Public Protector's report will only intensify the general disrespect of public resources and the pathological corruption that characterizes the successive governments of the ANC. Essentially, in the person of Jacob Zuma, South Africa is witnessing the first of heads of state since 1994 who treats state funds as his private profiteering scheme, a practice the whole ANC is defending and thus as a result nourishing all in its levels and those of the state.
The EFF deeply believes in a corrupt free government as one of its non-negotiable founding principles. This is because to steal from the poor is attempted murder and must be punishable by a harsh sentence of no less than 20 years in prison. The looting of the ANC removes food from the tables of poor people, and to take a plate of food from the poor is to risk them dying.
This is why the EFF will make sure that Jacob Zuma is charged with corruption, that he pays back the money and that he is imprisoned for stealing from the poor. Unless this is done, no one will ever respect the people's money and treat it as sacrosanct. The EFF further calls on an investigation to be constituted to make sure that all who have been stealing all these years are also brought to the book and a clean chapter of a corrupt free government begins.
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, September 29 2014
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