More than 400 public servants have escaped criminal prosecution and retained their jobs by owning up to housing subsidy fraud and agreeing to repay the government.
But 3 800 of their colleagues did not escape prosecution, following a year-long investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into fraud involving low-cost housing for the poor, the Housing Department said yesterday.
A total of 31 000 public servants are under investigation.
Housing spokesperson Xolani Xundu said the 443 public servants were let off the hook because they had come forward and acknowledged their crimes.
"These are the people who came up to say that they are willing to repay the money - they owned up. Their cases didn't even go to court," said Xundu.
He hoped this would be viewed by others as an "incentive" to also come forward and pay up.
The 443 had signed acknowledgements of debt with the SIU totalling R9,3-million, which had to be repaid over a period of up to 60 months, Xundu said.
Nearly R1-million of this had been paid back.
If people failed to honour their commitment, their cases would be handed to the department for further action, or to the State Attorney," said Xundu.
Of the 31 000 under investigation, 9 235 were from Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 6 755. The Western Cape had the sixth highest number of public servants under investigation with 2 279, while the Northern Cape has the lowest number, 475.
Most of the suspects were people with salaries ranging from R3 501 upwards and therefore could not qualify for subsidies
The SIU's investigation was prompted by the Auditor-General's report in 2006 that concluded that there was possible fraud, corruption and maladministration in the housing subsidy system.
President Thabo Mbeki authorised the SIU in April last year to begin investigations.
Housing Director-General Itumeleng Kotsoane explained that most of the fraudulent activity took place in the late 1990s and early 2000 due to the "failure of our systems to detect and verify some of the applicants' details".
He said: "The department has improved its monitoring and verification systems and is able to detect and prevent fraudulent application by verifying the applicants' details with the SA Revenue Services, the Department of Home Affairs, Deeds Office and other institutions of government."
The SIU will today and tomorrow prosecute 34 public servants in Pietermaritzburg for fraudulently obtaining subsidised houses.
Ten more will appear in the Venterstad magistrates' court in the Eastern Cape on Friday.
Xundu said the SIU investigations focused on irregular awarding of subsidies to non-qualifying beneficiaries, especially government employees. - Pretoria News
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