National Anti-Corruption Campaign; Public Service Code

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
16 November 1999
NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN; PUBLIC SERVICE CODE

Documents Handed Out
Presentation by the Public Service Commission's National Anti-Corruption Initiative (appended to end of minutes)

SUMMARY
The Public Service Commission gave a presentation covering the broad spectrum of ending corruption in the civil service through workshops, an assessment register and a coordinating body. It ended with discussion of the International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Durban (October 1999).

The second presentation detailed the public service code which provides a framework for ethical behavior, binding to all civil servants. Discussion on the code centered on protection of whistle blowers and if suitable remuneration could stop corruption. Debate also included the issue of rewarding or not rewarding whistle blowers and how to enforce anti-corruption laws in the private sector.

MINUTES
Chairperson Mr N Nhleko introduced the delegation from the Public Service Commission.

National Anti-Corruption Initiative
When speaking about the PSC's initiatives, the speaker noted that code of conduct workshops have been given in eight provinces and the cCmmission is working to set one up in the Western Cape Province. It has also proposed two anti-corruption workshops for individuals outside the public sector in the provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal by the end of 1999. As part of the PSC initiatives, the civil service will also undergo an asset register for Heads of Department and Deputy Directors General. The commission explained that the asset registration is similar to one that parliamentarians currently have in use whereby they must declare their assets and how they were acquired.

The commission briefed the MPs about the International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Durban (October 1999) and the major commitments that came out of that conference, namely, whistle blowing, media campaigns (GCIS) and a national coordinating structure. The conference decided that South Africa needed to increase its protection for whistle blowers and also came up with five working groups. These were: education and training, hotlines/blacklists, legal review, a coordinating body and communication (GCIS and the Advertising Authority). The speaker noted that blacklists are of particular concern to the commission. Legal review of the 1992 Anti-corruption Act was deemed necessary because participants at the conference did not think that the document went far enough to end corruption. The plans for the coordinating body are not finalized so the role that it will play is still being debated.

Public Service Code of conduct
The process of compiling the code came from research gathered between 1994-1996 and was a comprehensive study of codes of conduct from the following countries: Philippians, Singapore, Australia, America, Canada and Uganda. The code was discussed with many different individuals including this committee, Cabinet Ministers, the Premiers, Members of the Executive Council, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration and the Public Protector.

The code provides a framework for ethical behavior, which is binding to all civil servants. There are five areas which the code instructs employees on:
- dealing with the legal and executive,
- relationship with the public,
- relationship with one another,
- values of performance and duty and
- values related to personal conduct.

The code is structured to promote an ethos of dedication and service among employees, high standards of professionalism and encourage employees to become more efficient in service delivery. The broad objectives of the code are to influence values and stop the corruption that is fed by such things as no accountability and nepotism.

It serves as a checklist of criteria for behavior, a guide to refer to when in doubt, delineates obligations to community and colleagues, strengthens integrity, protect democratic values and enforces a work ethic which promoted professionalism.

Questions
Where to go from here? Can remuneration, not with bloated salaries but investments, be used to "stamp out" corruption?

On the remuneration issue, the commission raised the question, do salaries need to be higher or do they need to be lower? In it's view, there needs to be a balance in the middle of both extremes so it does not agree with remuneration and did not feel that it was in a stage to support it.
.
What is being done to monitor corruption in the private sector? How can we go about stepping up oversight in this area?

The commission had worked to stop corruption in all areas of the community and is working to revise the 1992 Anti-Corruption Act. The commission said it wanted the act to have more strength.

Assessment registration is an important issue so why has it not been immediately implemented?

According to the commission, asset registration will not be ready until April of next year. This is because that it just got a new mandate in January of 1999 and in the months since has been working out a plan for asset registration. This plan must be approved through the normal process for support and will probably be coming before the committees in the future. For this reason, the commission felt that April was a good goal to implement asset registration for top level officials in the public sector.

Questions were raised about whistle blowers and the ethics behind paying them for reporting corruption activities and protection of his or her rights?

The commission said that it needed more laws on this issue. Payment of whistle blowers was a big issue. It felt however, that it was a citizen's civic responsibility to report illegal activities. Accordingly, whistle blowing is a powerful instrument but must be handled carefully because it involves lives. As part of the code of conduct, one is obligated to report corruption but there are no mechanisms to protect the individual once he or she does. It is a law violation not to report corruption but litigation may arise if one does because he or she has been exposed.

A member responded to the payment of whistle blowers by reminding the commission that South Africa comes from a bad past. She said that the first thing police would do to the resistance movement is offer people money to say who is involved. She also thought that whistle blowing fitted within the Open Democracy Bill.

One Parliamentarian expressed concern over recruitment tactics used in the civil service saying that appointed individuals were not answerable to the people. Recruitment also created a domino effect as recruited individuals then recruited his or her friends.

Was the commission still debating on the coordinating body and when will it be operating?

The target date for the coordinating body to be operational is the end of March 2000.

The Chairman then said there needed to be a resolution to raise public awareness of ethical and moral matters to ensure that correct morals and manners existed. He responded to issue of remuneration by adding that what stops one from being corrupt has nothing to do with big or small packages. He cited that some of the biggest millionaires were guilty of tax evasion. If corruption was a moral and ethical matter, why should people be paid to expose corruption? He also called for a review of the 1992 Anti-Corruption Act since he felt that it was not living up to its aims. Currently, no one has been locked up for violation of this law. He then asked members of the ANC study group to stay behind and dismissed the meeting after Mr S Opperman (DP) thanked the commission for its presentation.

Appendix I:
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
National Anti-Corruption Initiative

Constitutional Mandate
Section 195 (1)(a)
A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained

Section 196 (4) (f) (iii)
to monitor and investigate adherence to applicable procedures in the public service

Process
- Ministerial Committee appointed in October 1997 to consider a national campaign against corruption.
- Cabinet adopts proposals to control and prevent corruption in September 1998
- Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference held in Parliament in November 1998 (PSC plays critical role).
- Inter-governmental Congress on corruption in Washington (February 1999). Sponsored by US Government. Attended by PSC Chair.
- National Anti-Corruption Summit held in Parliament on 14 -15 April 1999 with all relevant stakeholders
- strong political commitment (President)
- development of national integrity strategy
- "partnership with the people"
Organised by PSC / Justice

National Initiatives
SANGOCO Code of Ethics
Moral Summit
Heath Commission
SANCODE (Business)
Formation of Scorpions
Formation of Asset Forfeiture Unit

Flagcarrier
PSC appointed as flag carrier of anti-corruption campaign by Cabinet (July 1999)

PSC Initiatives
Code of Conduct Workshops
Publishing Materials
Monitoring
Proposed Anti-Corruption Workshops
Proposed Asset Register
International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Durban (October 1999)

PSC involvement
Durban Commitment

Summit Resolutions
-whistleblowing
-media campaign (GCIS)
-National Co-ordinating Structure

Work Areas
Training and Education
Hotline & Blacklist
Legislative Review
Co-ordinating Body
Communication