Moonlighting public servants pocket R31.8m for outside work
THE DA wants Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet and her department to assist departments to take disciplinary action against senior managers who cannot prove they obtained permission to engage in paid work outside the public service.
This comes after Kiviet revealed, in reply to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mimmy Gondwe, that the Public Service Commission found 379 senior management service (SMS) members were engaged in other remunerative work.
Kiviet said only 203 SMS members provided proof that they obtained prior permission to do so.
“The national departments had 212 SMS members engaged in other remunerative work during the period under review.
“Only 128 of these SMS members provided proof of prior approval. The other 84 did not provide such proof, which means they engaged in other remunerative work without obtaining prior permission or it could have been oversight on their part,” she said.
Kiviet also said the number of SMS members able to provide proof that they sought permission prior to engaging in other paid work was a revised total of 216. “Most of these SMS members (128) were in national departments. Provincial departments has a revised total of 88 SMS members.”
Those SMS members not able to provide proof that they sought permission prior to engaging in other paid work was a revised total of 161.
“Of this number 84 was from the national departments and a revised total of 77 from provincial departments.”
Kiviet’s responses showed that the senior managers pocketed R45 049 61 during the 2021/22 financial year.
“Of this total, R31 385 858 was generated by SMS members in the National Departments and National Government Components. The amount of remuneration generated by SMS members in the provincial departments was R13 663 502.”
The Western Cape government had 35 SMS members engaged in other remunerative work. “Three of these SMS members did not provide proof of prior approval. They are from the departments of Education; Provincial Treasury and Transport and Public Works, and generated a combined total of R26 057 47,” Kiviet said.
She said various actions – not limited to infractions relating to other remunerative work, but to non-compliance with the Financial Disclosure Framework in general – were taken as a result of the Public Service Commission’s findings and recommendations.
Gondwe said the DA was calling on Kiviet and her department to assist government departments in ensuring appropriate disciplinary action was taken against all senior managers who could not prove they obtained permission to engage in other paid work in contravention of the Public Service Act as and the Public Service Regulations.
“Of particular concern, the reply by the DPSA indicated that disciplinary action was taken against only 141 senior managers who could not prove they had obtained permission. Unless urgent action is taken to address this growing practice, conflicts of interest, and possibly corruption, will be difficult to root out of the public service.”