Question NW270 to the Minister of Communications
19 June 2020 - NW270
Van Damme, Ms PT to ask the Minister of Communications
What number of employees have been found to have criminal records in (a) The Ministry, (b) her department and (c) all entities reporting to her; 2. What mechanisms has her department put in place to conduct vetting of potential employees to ensure that persons with criminal records are not employed as public servants in her department?
Reply:
The Departments and Entities has advised me as follows:
1(a) None
(b) None
(c) At FPB, ICASA, ZADNA, Nemisa, USAASA and Sentech, there are no employees with criminal records
BBI has embarked on a vetting process for all employees in October 2019. It is still awaiting one (1) employee’s result, which is expected before end of the financial year 2019/20.
SAPO has 147 employees with criminal records.
SITA has confirmed 130 employees have criminal records.
SABC has one employee with a criminal record.
2 All new employees, on assumption of duty, are under an obligation to apply for security clearance from State Security, as their appointment is subject to security clearance being obtained. Should they fail to obtain such clearance the Department, will terminate after having adhered to due process, the employment relationship. In addition, the Department, now request an SAP69 from SAPS before appointment to ensure the person to be appointed has no criminal record before appointment.
Further, prior to appointment, the department submits the fingerprints of potential employees to the South African Police Services [SAPS] Criminal Record Center for criminal checks due to long delays from the State Security Agency [SSA] to provide the outcomes of security checks/vetting of potential employees.
MS STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES