Former minister of public works Patricia de Lille has asked Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean MacPherson to furnish her with the details of the cybercrime theft amounting to more than R300 million. The money was allegedly siphoned from the ministry undetected.
On Wednesday, MacPherson said he had decided to take the public into his confidence, in the interests of transparency, to reveal a staggering cybercrime-related matter that the department had unearthed – at least R300m had been stolen from the department in the past 10 years.
MacPherson said more stolen money could be uncovered by the time investigations concluded.
According to the department, in the latest episode that took place in May 2024, the cybercriminals stole a further R24m.
MacPherson said that had prompted a full forensic investigation by the Special Investing Unit (SIU/Hawks), SAPS State Security Agency and experts in the ICT and cybersecurity industry.
The revelation emerged as MacPherson and his deputy, Sihle Zikalala, conduct detailed assessments on the work of the department and are briefed by the department’s branches.
“It has become clear that the department has been a soft target and playground for cybercriminals for over a 10 year period and this should have been picked up a lot earlier. I felt it important to let South Africa know what has happened and what we are doing about it. I cannot discount the possibility of collision between officials and criminals in this prolonged period of theft. It is clear that we need better financial controls which I have said to the department are a matter of urgency,” MacPherson said.
Reacting to the latest revelations, De Lille said in a statement that she wanted the details of the money that could have been stolen during her tenure as minister, so that she can assess the situation properly.
“In response to the statement by the Minister of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean MacPherson, I hereby wish to state that I was the minister of DPWI for just under four years, there were two other ministers at DPWI during the 10-year period referred to in the new minster’s statement.
“I will be meeting with the minister next week and I will request a copy of the report for the period relevant to my time at DPWI. During my time, I was able to recover R253 million related to leases where government was overcharged. I had an agreement with the SIU, who seconded two SIU officials to help investigate all the allegations in DPWI,” said De Lille in a statement.
De Lille added that she would be able to make a full statement once she had gone through the report relevant to her tenure at the department.
MacPherso has committed himself to getting rid of corruption, including corrupt officials within the department that included syndicates and those in cahoots with them internally or externally.
“We want to put a stop to this immediately because we cannot allow our department to be subjected to unchecked looting. This is money that could have been spent on our infrastructure drive to improve the lives of South Africans. The investigation will be expanded and deepened to find the masterminds and the beneficiaries of this grand theft, and I want to see them in prison.
He said at least four officials had been suspended and more than 30 laptops seized by the investigators.
The four officials suspended include three in senior management and one in middle management.
In May, the department announced that it has ordered a full forensic probe into what it called vulnerabilities in the department’s IT systems.
The department identified the cybersecurity vulnerabilities with the assistance of its banking partners, among them Absa and the South African Reserve Bank.
The investigation involves cyber and ICT security experts looking into the causes of the breach and vulnerabilities, and vulnerability and susceptibility to cybercrime of the ICT infrastructure within the department.
MacPherson welcomed the latest developments, saying the precautionary suspension of four individuals and the seizure of more than 30 laptops for further examination by the investigative teams was a step in the right direction as the seventh administration kicked off its clean governance campaign.
“This will allow the investigations to proceed smoothly. We are appealing to the team probing this security breach to conclude their investigation with speed. We do not want prolonged investigations with no results and consequences. There is simply no place for corruption in this department,” he said.
The Star