COVID-19 food baskets, wage subsidy abused
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday February 27, 2023 06:00
The report shows that most local authorities had not complied with the COVID-19 Food Relief Response also known as the food basket programme. Government in 2020 budgeted about P150 million for social protection packages for people affected by the imposed lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount catered for food baskets and their transportation as well as for remuneration of temporary social workers roped in to assist during the pandemic. The programme was rolled out through local government authorities.
At the time when the assessment to identify eligible households began, there were mixed reports with some members of the community questioning the criteria used to qualify one for the programme. Some people complained that they had not received the relief package and expressed anger over being overlooked for assessment by social workers.
The government revealed then that the food basket programme was meant for those who did not have regular income due to lockdowns. Three years later, the Auditor General’s report indicates that there was lack of proper guidance which led to uncontrolled prices of food commodities, undefined criteria, direction on eligibility for food packages and uncontrolled overtime.
“There was no standard way to test the eligibility of beneficiaries as individuals/families in similar circumstances were assessed differently. Perusal of the assessment forms revealed that the outcome depended on the discretion of the assessor. Furthermore, in Mogoditshane 65, 289 beneficiaries had qualified for assistance whereas 64, 884 had been assessed, thereby bringing doubt on the accuracy of the data as the numbers assisted exceeded those that were assessed,” Letebele reported.
She added that in some instances, double dipping had occurred where individuals or families had benefited under both the Instant Food Relief Programme and the Destitute Programme baskets between April 29, 2020 and May 18, 2020. In another revelation by Letebele, an amount of P4.2 million from the wage subsidy was paid to undeserving beneficiaries from April to June 2020.
The wage subsidy was an intervention by government to cushion companies during the pandemic but some businesses benefited from the assistance though they did not pass on the subsidy to their workers.
“There were no controls in place to check the authenticity of the information provided by the applicants to guard against uploading of ghost employees. Information produced by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MFED) revealed that 426 Government employees had unduly benefited from the wage subsidy in April 2020. The total amount paid was P788, 428,” stated the report. Letebele pointed out that at the time of audit there was no evidence that monthly reconciliations were carried out as required by Section 10 (b) of the Fund Order. “As at October 2020 payments were still ongoing although they were slated for the three months of April, May and June 2020.
This contravened COVID-19 Guidelines. The late payments defeated the purpose of the subsidy,” she said. In 2021, Mmegi ran an article about the wage subsidy abuse following overwhelming reports of companies and individuals defrauding government through the wage subsidy. It was reported that the Ministry of Finance had recovered P20 million from ‘delinquents’. “The total amount that has been paid out by government as COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Support to 20, 701 Batswana-owned companies from April to December 2020 is P933 million. Of this amount, P127 million was paid to 922 tourism industry companies during the period July to December 2020.
To date, about 856 companies were found to have attempted to obtain the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Support through fraudulent means. The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) has since recovered an amount slightly above P20 million from the companies and recovery measures continue. Most of the companies have been handed over to the Botswana Police Service for investigations and possible criminal prosecution,” Ministry of Finance disclosed at the time. The latest revelation by the Auditor General’s report rubber stamps what has been alleged all along, that companies defrauded the government through the wage subsidy. When government offered the Wage Subsidy Support to companies, some saw it as an opportunity to defraud the system making claims for ghost employees, paying employees less while others diverted the funds and left employees in the lurch.