KZN winning war on fraud, corruption

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize, says the province is on a war path against fraud, corruption and malfeasance in the public service.
Dr Mkhize was delivering his Budget Speech before the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature yesterday.
“Of the 529 convictions, those found guilty were sentenced to a total 113 years imprisonment without options and 466 years imprisonment with options,” Mkhize revealed.
“The total actual value of money defrauded after convictions was R24 629 079. Of the 433 cases received, 431 people were convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment,” the Premier said.
He said his office had established the Integrity Management Unit in the Office of the Premier and it worked closely with the Internal Audit Services in the Provincial Treasury to monitor fraud and corruption.
Mkhize said: “To date, 172 investigation requests, involving R1.6 billion have been received from a wide range of sources, including Government Departments, municipalities and whistleblowers.”
During the period April 2011 to March 2012, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government fraud summary indicated that 594 dockets were received by the SAPS Commercial Crimes Unit.
“The total actual value of money defrauded after convictions was R28 745 441.”
On a related matter, he said the Provincial Task Team that was set up to deal with misconduct cases and precautionary suspensions within departments had reduced the number of cases from 104 to the current 46, and the value of precautionary suspensions from R11 109 241 to R5 486 938.
“During the 2012/13 financial year 1492 misconduct cases were finalised by Provincial Departments, 80% of them within the prescribed 90 day period,” he said.