SIU says officials must answer for poor record-keeping that hinders investigations

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) plans to hold officials accountable for the poor record-keeping at state institutions that has been hindering its investigations.

On Wednesday, 18 September 2024, the SIU briefed Parliament’s public accounts watchdog on its investigations into two state institutions, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the Road Accident Fund (RAF).

Both institutions have been plagued by maladministration and poor governance, with the SIU now investigating.

The SIU is investigating Prasa via two separate proclamations regarding alleged corruption and maladministration.

Missing records have been a problem at Prasa from as far back as September 2023, when the Parliamentary Monitoring Group reported that SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi told Parliament the agency was unable to conduct a full investigation to quantify losses suffered by the public rail agency.

At the RAF, which has often made headlines on the state of litigation on claims, the SIU said document management remained a concern.

Read more: Transport Minister Barbara Creecy demands a plan from RAF board over crippling Gauteng court backlog

“This is a phenomenon that we come across in various other state institutions,” said Mothibi.

He said this became an “easy way” to frustrate investigations when the SIU asked for documents. 

Mothibi said the SIU had looked at the situation about three or four years ago and identified it as an issue for investigators.

“And when I read the report of the investigators, the reports more often … would say we went into this institution, we couldn’t find documents, we couldn’t do that,” he said.

Mothibi said investigations should not end when the paper trail went dry. His team had instructed investigators on how to navigate issues such as when documents were needed, or even in some cases, had to be subpoenaed. 

Mothibi said an “inquiry must go further to say where were these documents kept and under whose custody were [they] kept?”.

He said investigations should focus on further accountability against those who did not provide required documents for investigations. 

“Because there are regulations – laws and regulations relating to archiving and document storage,” he said, adding, “Those laws need to be observed.” 

“And this goes at all levels, whether it’s management or executive and including the accounting officers or accounting authorities, which are the boards in state-owned entities,” he said.

“We must dive deep and hold everyone accountable,” said Mothibi.

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