Open letter to the President: Make sure emergency spending is not wasted or stolen

An open letter from a coalition of civil society organisations to President Cyril Ramaphosa expressing concern over the potential for corruption and waste regarding South Africa's R500-billion Covid-19 relief package. The authors call for urgent transparency measures, independent monitoring, and strict accountability to prevent the diversion of emergency funds.

• The authors express significant concern that the R500-billion relief package may be subject to looting, diversion, and capture, particularly as funds are distributed across various government departments and municipalities.
• The document cites several immediate examples of suspected financial mismanagement and corruption related to the pandemic response, including a R37-million fence at the Beit Bridge border post, R22-million spent on blankets in KwaZulu-Natal, and a R160-million e-learning contract in the Eastern Cape.
• To mitigate corruption risks, the signatories propose a comprehensive set of transparency measures, including the publication of detailed reports on the R500-billion stimulus and Solidarity Fund, the use of the eTender Publication online portal for real-time monitoring, and the acceptance of the Auditor General's offer to provide monitoring experts.
• The letter recommends several institutional and legal safeguards, such as supporting the Special Investigating Unit's request for a national proclamation, establishing special corruption tribunals for Covid-19 spending, and utilizing the Department of Public Service and Administration’s central disciplinary database to bar corrupt officials from handling emergency funds.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2020). Open letter to the President: Make sure emergency spending is not wasted or stolen. https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-make-sure-emergency-spending-is-not-wasted-or-stolen/

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. Open letter to the President: Make sure emergency spending is not wasted or stolen. 2020. https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-make-sure-emergency-spending-is-not-wasted-or-stolen/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=Open letter to the President: Make sure emergency spending is not wasted or stolen |date=24 May 2020 |url=https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-make-sure-emergency-spending-is-not-wasted-or-stolen/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2020open, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{Open letter to the President: Make sure emergency spending is not wasted or stolen}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-make-sure-emergency-spending-is-not-wasted-or-stolen/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }