Newly appointed Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean MacPherson has promised to deal with corruption following the discovery that R300 million has been stolen by cyber-hackers and potentially officials within his department over the past 10 years.
This has led to a precautionary suspenskon of four individuals including senior managers ans the seizure of 30 laptops for further investigations.
Democratic Alliance’s (DA) McPherson said his department will ensure that the financial controls are tightened while holding those responsible accountable
He added that “there is no place for corruption in this department”.
Around May this year he explained that the cyber-hackers stole R24 million which has prompted the Hawks to investigate together with the Cybersecurity experts within the department.
Minister McPherson together with his deputy who was former Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sihle Zikalala were conducting detailed assessments on the work of the department.
“It has become clear that the department has been a alft target and playground of cyber criminals over ten year period and this should have been picked up earlie,” said MacPherson.
He didn’t rule out the possibility of collision between criminals and the department’s officials.
The Minister haa also vowed to deal with the construction mafia syndicate that has since spread across the country.
The investigations involves cajses of the breach and vulnerabilities, vulnerability and susceptibility to cyber crime of the ICT infrastructure within the department, lack of ataff capacity and weak ICT systems.