The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, led by MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, has initiated an internal investigation into an R36-million (approximately USD 2.16 million) fresh produce project. This project's objective was to establish 16 container stores across townships to provide small-scale entrepreneurs with essential market access. Despite being operational for six months, the initiative has failed to meet its expected deliverables, with the Gauteng government having expended R28 million (about USD 1.68 million) of its budget.
Ramokgopa expressed a strict stance against the misuse of public funds, highlighting the project's financial discrepancies. "These containers at the current pricing come in at an average of R1.75 million (around USD 105,000) per container, which is just absolutely obscene. As soon as we discovered this, my first call was to suspend the project, send correspondence to the national government, and actually request a deviation of any further funding from this project whilst we reassess it. It is an absolute gross abuse of public funds. The pricing does not correlate with market pricing for similar structures, and this is truly endemic unfortunately within government and the public sector," Ramokgopa stated.
Source: SABC News