Question NW972 to the Minister of Social Development
12 May 2022 - NW972
Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1)In light of the meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development held on 9 March 2022 where her department confirmed that public servants had applied for the Early Childhood Development Presidential Stimulus Relief Fund, (a) how did her department discover the matter, (b) what number of public servants applied for the fund and (c) in which department(s) are the specified public servants employed; (2) whether any public servants who applied for the specified fund received payment; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what disciplinary measures have been taken against the public servants in question?
Reply:
1. (a) Prior to processing the applications for payment, the Department conducted a due diligence process, which include verification of name, surname, and identity number against existing national database such as the Department of Home Affairs’ National Population Register and the DPSA’s Personal and Salary System (PERSAL). It is during this verification process that the department identified that some of the ECD staff were on PERSAL.
(b) Three Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty-Nine (3 729)
(c) PERSAL does not reflect the departments within which these staff are employed. The data has been sent to DPSA, which is the custodian of the public service payroll to identify in which departments/entities they are currently employed.
2. No, public servants who were found on PERSAL were disqualified and no payments were made and therefore is no need for any disciplinary action. The Department will further engage the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and the DPSA in this regard.