Crackdown on civil servants

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Johannesburg - The Public Service and Administration Department has referred at least 20 civil servants to law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution. The law which forbids civil servants from doing business with the government came into effect on April 1 this year. In August 2016, officials were given until February 2017 to relinquish directorship posts in companies. According to Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu, his department has so far identified 20 public service employees who may have conducted business with the State in contravention of Section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act. Mchunu maintained that the civil servants found to have conducted business with the state were not known to the department.

“The list with 20 names was handed to the SAPS on June 24 to conduct investigations and, based on their findings, to request the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute those in contravention of Section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act.

“The name list submitted to the police and NPA only contains employees who are in contravention of the Public Administration Management Act of April.”

The minister explained that his department identified the officials based on information obtained from the central supplier database as provided by the National Treasury.

“This database contains a register of all individuals registered to tender for business with the State and is maintained by National Treasury.

"The information obtained from this database is compared with information on the Personnel Salary System which then identified the public service employees registered on the database.”

Mchunu said his department had increased awareness on the detection of civil servants conducting business with the state among ethics officers of the various departments through hosting an annual national ethics officer forum.

Meanwhile, the Public Service Commission received 45 financial disclosure forms of the directors-general at national and provincial departments at the end of May.

Mchunu highlighted that the commission did not receive the financial disclosure forms from eight directors-general at a national level.

He, however, said seven of the affected directors-general disclosed their registrable interests before April 30, but their ministers did not submit copies of the financial disclosure forms to the commission by May 31, as required by the regulations.

Mchunu also pointed out that the Public Service Commission was in constant contact with the ethics officers reminding them to ensure that their respective departments comply with the financial disclosure framework (FDF).

“Ethics officers in departments have been assigned specific duties to assist the heads of department and executive authorities with the implementation of the FDF.

“The Public Service Commission continuously made follow-ups with the ethics officers where the submission of financial disclosures was moving slowly.”

Political Bureau