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Millions of rands needed to be recovered for eight ministerial homes
that were renovated in the Western Cape, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has
conceded.
This recommendation had been made to the Special Investigating Unit
after a departmental review of the work done on 16 properties by built
environment professionals who had been contracted for renovations, he
said.
A recommendation was also made “to refer the evidence of
overpayment and unprofessional conduct to the built environment professionals
council for further action”.
The actual amounts to be recovered were still being
quantified.
No more details were presented, but three years ago a storm erupted
after the department admitted spending R65 million under its prestige portfolio
for renovations to about 27 ministerial properties in the 2011-2012 financial
years.
Nxesi was highlighting the department’s turnaround strategy to
combat corruption during his budget review speech yesterday. Other measures
included:
» 340 corruption cases had been
initiated since 2009, of which 235 had been completed, 57 were referred to other
units for further investigation, and 52 are in progress. So far 176 disciplinary
recommendations have been made;
» In the past year, there were seven
disciplinary actions for fraud and corruption, resulting in three dismissals and
one resignation. So far, civil proceedings had led to the recovery of about R322
million;
» 122 matters of conflict of interest
are being investigated;
» During Operation Bring-Back last
year, 9719 state properties had been red-flagged for possible irregularities;
and
» More than 1300 properties have been
detected as irregularly occupied.
