DA wants action on customs graft

2010-06-25 19:39

Cape Town - The South African Revenue Service is failing to detect attempts by tourists to bribe customs officials and to punish those involved, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday.

This came after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in reply to a parliamentary question this week that seven cases of alleged bribery involving customs officials were investigated between April 2009 and February 2010.

Five of these were still "active investigations". One case resulted in a customs official being dismissed and another pending case had led to disciplinary process against a suspended official.

DA MP Manny de Freitas said dismissal was too weak a sanction and the small number of investigations suggested more cases went undetected.

"I am sceptical that only these cases occurred during this period," he said in a statement.

"Clearly, more aggressive mechanisms need to be implemented to encourage and expedite the reporting of such cases by members of the public."

He added: "Dismissal is simply not enough. Official criminal charges need to be laid in this regard."

- SAPA