#KZNFloods: ‘No room for corruption’ says, Ramaphosa
The President speaks against any mishandling of resources meant for the rebuilding of portions of flood-hit KZN.
ACCORDING to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the country may have to fork up billions to help our province.
“It will be critical, as we undertake this work, that all the resources we mobilise are used for their intended purposes and reach the intended recipients. There can be no room for corruption, mismanagement or fraud of any sort,” said the President.
Ramaphosa added that, “learning from the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are drawing together various stakeholders to be part of an oversight structure to ensure all funds disbursed to respond to this disaster are properly accounted for and that the state receives value for money.”
The Auditor-office, General’s businesses, religious institutions, labour unions, community-based organizations, and professional bodies such as engineers and accountants have all been invited to act as oversight bodies.
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According to the President, government is adamant that there must be transparency and accountability in the costing and implementation of projects, as well as how resources are allocated, from the start, not after the money has been wasted or stolen.
Ramaphosa has requested assistance from the Solidarity Fund for humanitarian help and other forms of relief. It has set up a separate bank account to deal with the floods.
“The National Treasury will make an initial amount of funds available as part of our efforts with the Solidarity Fund to implement these support measures. The Solidarity Fund has effectively managed the resources that government, the private sector and many South Africans made available to manage the Covid-19 effort as well as the July 2021 unrest assistance measures,” he concluded.
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