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- HAWKS84464400
Over the last few weeks there have been a few high profile arrests in South Africa. I am not reading too much into this right now as only when they are convicted will we know how serious the government is . At the moment it looks more like diverting attention away from what officials have been stealing over the last few months.
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South Africa has had two elite crime fighting units that concentrated on corruption. Firstly we had the Scorpions (1999-2008) that investigated corrupt cops and Government Officials and were independently run. They were actually doing a good job and had a 93 % conviction rate. They were disbanded however as more than likely they were doing their job too well and made Government officials nervous.
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In 2009 we had the Hawks who were basically the Scorpions now working under the head of police. This was done to protect the ruling party government officials as the government now controlled them. President Zuma was allowed to plunder on his merry way stealing at will with no snooping detectives on his tail. the special unit as also used apparently to target certain officials within the party forcing certain members to resign.
It is strange that not much has been mentioned about the Hawks until recently with arrests last week and today. The 4 that appeared in court today goes way back to a tender from 2007 that makes no sense as that is 13 years ago and the question one asks is why now?
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Edwin Sodi was arrested last week for corruption related to tenders and the only reason he became a billionaire was all the kick backs he offered.
This tender was to supply services for IT work at the Health department over a 3 year period. The cost at the time was R57 million which is roughly $3.5 million so you understand the values involved. What transpired was the tender being awarded for R1.2 billion instead and now $75 Million with no services actually being delivered.
Talk about obvious and it took 13 years to get to court which makes me think that this is more than just cleaning up corruption. If you look as though you are doing work fixing the wrongs of the past then possibly no one would think they are doing anything now. Sacrifice a few who are no longer involved with the Government to protect those that still are.
Over the lock down period we know serious plundering has happened with many officials implicated and finger pointing. We know the cigarette ban made many people billionaires over the 6 month period yet cigarettes were still being sold at 5 x their market value. The police had road blocks everywhere and were only looking for cigarettes with the small fish as the illegal manufacturers were still making and delivering them in bulk without fear of being caught. The police would have been told to stay away from certain areas not to jeopardies their underhand plans.
The South African economy is not healthy right now and it is common to see To Let signs everywhere. This week I noticed a few family restaurants that have been operating for over 30 years have now shut for good. There is just no money around and whatever people have they ae holding onto it. With so much uncertainty around the Government is trying to show the masses they ae fixing the known corruption and I don't think it is that at all.