Question NW2270 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration

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23 September 2021 - NW2270

Profile picture: Cebekhulu, Inkosi RN

Cebekhulu, Inkosi RN to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration

With regard to the Government employees who, contrary to legislation, have done and continue to do business with the State, what (a) measures has the Government undertaken, in the past 24 months, to ascertain the total number of government employees doing business with the State, (b) total number of government employees in the specified period have been identified as doing business with the State and (c) steps has the Government taken against its employees who do business with the State?

Reply:

a) The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) draws reports of employees who are alleged to have conducted business with the State from the National Treasury’s Central Supplier Database (CSD) on a monthly basis and alert their departments to take appropriate steps and provide progress reports to the DPSA on action taken.

b) At the end of March 2019, National Treasury found 1068 employees alleged to have conducted business with the State (270 from national departments and 798 from provincial departments). In April 2020, the number increased to 1539 (this number was 1544, but Department of Trade and Industry confirmed that the 5 cases identified in their departments were in fact employees officially representing that department). A total of 1111 employees, possibly conducting business with the State, were from provincial departments, whilst 428 were from national departments. At the end of June 2021, the total number of employees alleged to have conducted business with the State has drastically decreased to 118, wherein 38 employees were from national departments whilst 80 were from provincial departments. This shows the effectiveness of interventions that the Public Service has introduced to eliminate this action.

c) The DPSA is working closely with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to assist with the investigations and prosecution of cases of employees who are criminally charged with conducting business with the State, in terms of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014. SAPS is currently investigating 17 employees who were alleged to be conducting business with the State and three of these cases have already been referred to the NPA for prosecution. One of these cases was enrolled in court. On a quarterly basis the DPSA also follows up with Departments to verify any disciplinary action taken against such employees alleged to have conducted business with the State.

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