IFP supports investigation of department corruption claims
IFP says corruption rife in agriculture
THE Inkatha Freedom Party fully supports the call made by Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Bheki Cele, that an anti-corruption unit should be established to investigate corruption in the agricultural industry.
‘Recently we have once again submitted written questions to the KZN MEC of Agriculture, Themba Mthembu, to seek a detailed expenditure report about the overall status of tractors handed over by his department to different communities around the province,’ said IFP KZN spokesperson on agriculture, Nhlanhla Msimango.
‘We asked similar questions to the former KZN MEC of Agriculture, Dr Meshack Radebe, but have not received any response to date.
He said the party was not shocked about the discovery of rotten seedlings at the Cato Ridge agricultural office and tractors sitting idle and covered by grass because ‘corruption in the department of agriculture is rampant’.
A forensic investigation was launched into how the KZN government spent more than R200-million of its drought-relief budget‚ which was meant as relief for subsistence farmers and struggling smallholder farmers‚ as well as bigger commercial farmers.
The money was earmarked for livestock and water harvesting‚ the scooping of dams and the rehabilitation of boreholes across the province‚ as well as for an aggressive de-worming campaign and the provision of hay and feed.
Almost R60-million in taxpayers’ money meant to assist emerging farmers in rural areas has not been accounted for‚ despite it being uncovered by another forensic report five years ago.
The forensic report‚ commissioned by Radebe in 2012 and which cost the province R10-million‚ was completed in February 2014‚ but has not been made public.
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