The ANC has placed its officials implicated in the Gauteng health department's personal protective equipment (PPE) tender scandal, on special leave.
Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku, his wife Loyiso, who is a member of the mayoral committee in the City of Joburg, and presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko, were instructed by the party to take leave of absence.
ANC Gauteng secretary Jacob Khawe said yesterday they had decided that the three must appear before the integrity committee. He said the probe by the committee was expected to take four weeks.
"The PEC has resolved that we as the ANC at this moment, whether we like it or not, the objective reality is that we are losing trust among the people on our ability and capability and commitment to deal with corruption," said Khawe.
This is a step in the right direction by the governing party, a sign that it is willing to root out corruption in its ranks.
However, we cannot help but wonder if the integrity committee is as powerful as it meant to be, a similar decision by its national integrity committee was overruled by the ANC national executive committee in favour of political expediency.
Earlier this month, national executive committee reinstated the party's Limpopo deputy chairperson Florence Radzilani and provincial treasurer Danny Msiza after almost two years on suspension.
The integrity committee had recommended that they should halt their duties after they were mentioned in the report which detailed how R2bn was looted from VBS Mutual Bank.
As it was announced that the committee would also probe the PPE contract yesterday, a Special Investigative Unit's investigation is also under way after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation last week for it to look into the misuse of Covid-19 relief funds.
While the flagged contracts are being investigated, we hope that will not affect the delivery of PPEs to health workers on the ground as they are still needed as a matter of urgency.
We are in what the experts have termed the storm of the virus and health workers are on the front-line of the fight, and their lives cannot be risked because of corruption.
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