Clampdown on business dealings of public servants

PUBLIC servants have been given until January to disclose their business activities involving any organ of state‚ Public Service and Administration Minister Ngoako Ramathlodi said yesterday.

A circular has been issued to staff in terms of new public service regulations which prohibit public servants from accepting gifts while performing their official duties.

They are also prohibited from conducting business with any organ of state or being a director of a public or private company conducting business with an organ of state.

Public servants will have to decide by January whether they want to resign from the government or relinquish any business activities.

Ramathlodi said at a media briefing that public servants had been informed last month that they had to regularise their affairs by January.

He said the government’s payment system, Persal, had been configured to capture other remunerative work activities of public servants. Units had been established in the department to monitor public servants’ activities, and the government would also rely on whistle-blowers.

Those who continued to do business with the state would be dismissed‚ Ramathlodi said.

Deputy Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs Minister Andries Nel said the Public Service Commission would check on the declarations of interest, and the interface between databases within the government would highlight who was conducting business in addition to their employment in government.

Ramathlodi also said the successful investigation of cases of alleged corruption reported to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) had resulted in the recovery of R340-million from perpetrators.

As at the end of last month, 18 076 cases had been referred to departments and 16 547 were closed.

Departments also took their own actions against corruption.