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Myolwa Senior Primary School in the Eastern Cape is a case study in how easily unscrupulous people rob the state.
At the heart of this disgraceful tale is the reality that rural schools need all the help they can get from our government to ensure that learners are taught in safe classrooms and have basic services, such as toilets and water.
Instead, the provincial government has signed away R4.8 million (or R3.3 million, depending on who you ask) to build a paltry nine pit latrine toilets and two urinals, and do renovations to four classrooms.
But when City Press visited the school, we found children crammed into leaky, prefabricated buildings. There was no sign of any renovations having taken place in the recent past. The company involved, meanwhile, claimed it was paid R3.3 million, including VAT, for the work done at the school.
The story of this unfortunate school mirrors the information currently emerging from numerous commissions of inquiry into widespread tender corruption, which has resulted in state capture and the collapsing of the country’s state-owned enterprises.
It seems as if service providers only bid for government work with the intention of milking the state, leaving those in need of the tendered-for services facing increasingly desperate situations.
The country is currently coping with blackouts because of the years of procurement corruption at Eskom. Meanwhile, the corrupt knew very well they would not be prosecuted because of political protection.
As the country begins the painstaking job of fixing the rot, it would be prudent to overhaul the procurement system in order to close the gap for those who want to make a quick buck at the expense of all South Africans, with the poor and vulnerable members of society suffering most.
