Bid to cut pay for nothing

Some officials have been getting paid while suspended and siting at home for up to 11 years

THE GOVERNMENT is turning up the heat on suspended officials, saying it wants the Department of Public Service and Administration to deal with the problem.

The government has been paying millions of rands to suspended officials who are sitting at home pending the finalisation of their cases.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) revealed in its report for 2016/17 that 574 disciplinary cases had not been finalised by the end of March last year. The PSC said the finalised cases involved more than R524million.

It said this was an increase from R184m in the previous financial year.

The PSC said in the report that there was a need to finalise cases concerning officials more rapidly.

In a circular to national and provincial departments, the director-general of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Richard Levin, said there was a need to deal with the delay in finalising some of the cases.

“The cabinet has noted with concern the time it takes to resolve and finalise the cases of employees who are on precautionary suspension.

At the most there are officials on suspension for longer than the required periods,” wrote Levin.

The Department of Public Service and Administration had not responded to questions by the time of publication.

But in various written replies in Parliament, ministers have indicated that some of the officials have been on suspension for between four months and 11 years.

This was also raised by MPs in meetings with ministers in the portfolio committees.

In the circular, Levin adds that officials who are on suspension must come forward so that their suspensions can be reviewed.

However, he indicated that this did not mean disciplinary cases against them would be stopped. He said those whose cases “did not warrant suspensions could be put on precautionary transfer” in accordance with disciplinary processes.

“Hope this will go a long way in addressing the waste that goes with paying officials to sit at home and do nothing,” said Levin.

It was revealed in Parliament last August that more than R24.5m was paid in salaries to officials who were on suspension sitting at home.

But the cabinet said the state was spending too much money on people sitting at home doing nothing and it wanted the cases to be finalised expeditiously.