Dean Michael Weeder of the Anglican St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town has called for the urgent completion of investigations into alleged corruption, especially with regard to the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was speaking ahead of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s 150th anniversary on today.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba will lead a service online at the St George’s Cathedral while Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will be the keynote speaker.

Weeder says those who will be found guilty of corruption must go to jail.

“It seems that there’s no hope and I think it’s particularly the religious community that has a mandate to speak out against it, to act against it and to use all our means to draw attention to it. Part of the call particularly in this month is you got to go to jail, there be needs to be conviction, there needs to be a hasty revert to law.”

Silent protest

Last week, church leaders in various cities across South Africa embarked on a silent protest against COVID-19 related corruption.

SIU

The Special Tribunal of South Africa has granted the Special Investigating Unit an urgent order for the freezing of R38.7 million held in the bank accounts of 40 Gauteng-based companies.

According to the tribunal, the companies are involved in the implementation of the contract for the supply and delivery of various COVID-19 PPEs.