President Cyril Ramaphosa said they have already tabled two pieces of legislation to deal with corruption in the public service.Picture: Kopano Tlape/GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa says they are seeking to overhaul laws governing the public service in a bid to fight corruption, and in one major initiative, a task team has been set up to track all public servants who have been fired and resigned.
This is contained in the report released by Ramaphosa this week on work being done to implement of the Zondo Commission’s recommendations.
The State wants to crackdown on corruption and prevent any future cases similar to state capture.
Ramaphosa said they have already tabled two pieces of legislation to deal with corruption in the public service.
Parliament is currently finalising the Public Service Amendment Bill.
Two weeks ago, Minister of Public Service and Administration Noxolo Kiviet said the Public Service Amendment Bill was aimed at preventing officials in national and provincial departments from holding positions in political parties.
Recently, the Labour Court overturned the Municipal Systems Act, which prevents employees in municipalities from holding political office.
This was after the law was challenged by the municipal workers union in court.
But Kiviet said the judgment did not have any impact on the Public Service Amendment Bill as it dealt with national and provincial departments.
In his report, Ramaphosa said they are implementing legislative changes to prevent corruption.
“The Public Service Amendment Bill and the Public Administration Laws General Amendment Bill are currently before Parliament. These include a number of reforms to professionalise the public service, in line with the commission’s recommendations, including the devolution of administrative powers from executive authorities to heads of department,” said Ramaphosa.
“An inter-departmental task team has successfully developed a single register to track all dismissals and resignations (with disciplinary cases pending) from the national and provincial spheres as well as from a significant number of public entities. There are currently over 12,000 records on the register. The inclusion of local government data into this register is under way.
“A review of disciplinary codes and tracking of criminal cases against public servants is being implemented.”
Political parties have in the past complained about public servants who resign before they face disciplinary action.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has raised concern about officials who leave departments when investigated for corruption and join other departments or municipalities in different provinces without any action being taken against them.
The Mercury