9 July 2014
Government’s commitment to clamp down and eradicate corruption has begun yielding results. This comes after telling interventions by government departments to end the cycle of corruption, with the most recent being the dismissal of 70 police officers in the past six months. The police officers were dismissed for corruption, attempted murder, armed robbery, defeating the ends of justice and assault amongst others.
Interventions made by the newly established national investigating unit, following the robbery of foreign business last year, has also uncovered two syndicates associated with the offence. The suspects that were arrested comprised members of the South African Revenue Services, the South African Police Services and Gauteng traffic police. In another incident, officials from the South African Social Security Agency were arrested for defrauding the agency of a significant amount of money.
Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi said, “These are some of the recent government achievements in its fight against crime and corruption, which is one of its priorities. The departments have heeded the instruction by President Jacob Zuma to address weaknesses in procurement, management and operations systems that undermine the efficiency of government. An effective and efficient public service is easily undermined by poor ethics and corruption, and government will not allow such acts to thrive. To this end, government has put in place interventions to address crime and corruption.”
President Jacob Zuma, in his 2014 State of the Nation Address, introduced the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, whose purpose is to oversee the work of state organs aimed at fighting the scourge of corruption in the public and private sectors.
The Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill was introduced to address issues of corruption, the lack of professionalism in the public service, and the lack of common standards. The Bill when signed into law will prohibit public servants from doing business with the state. The bill also introduces the Office of Standards and Compliance to monitor the implementation of national public service standards, and the National Disciplinary Unit which will support national, provincial and local government to deal with disciplinary cases effectively.
“The PAM Bill clearly highlights to public servants that corruption, mal-administration and unethical conduct will not be tolerated,” said Muthambi.
Other interventions include the anti-corruption strategy which entails stringent rules and procedures to stop nepotism; favouritism; the introduction of a toll-free anti-corruption hotline; financial audits; training for all public servants on code of conduct, ethics and corruption; and prosecution of all offenders found guilty. Key pieces of legislation that are also aimed at addressing corruption include the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“Government is hard at work to end the cycle of corruption, and calls on society and business to report any form of corruption. By reporting corruption it equips government to deal with criminal activities. By working together we move South Africa forward,” said Muthambi.
Corruption can be reported using the following:
• Telephone: 0800701701 (24 hours)
• SMS: 39772
• E-mail :publicservicecorruptionhotline. org.za; Integrity@publicservicecorruptionhotline.org.za
• “Walk in” disclosures may be made at any Public Service Commission office.
Enquiries:
Phumla Williams
Cell: 083 501 0139
Issued by: Government Communications and Information System (GCIS)
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