Pretoria - Government’s commitment to root out corruption continues to yield results, with 70 police officers having been dismissed in the last six months.
The police officers were dismissed for corruption, attempted murder, armed robbery, defeating the ends of justice and assault, among others, after the newly established national investigating unit intervened.
The unit has also uncovered two syndicates -- which involved officials from the South African Revenue Service, South African Police Service and Gauteng traffic police -- who were robbing foreign businesses.
In another incident, officials from the South African Social Security Agency were arrested for defrauding the agency of a significant amount of money.
Communications Minister Faith Muthambi said the arrests will go a long way in the fight against crime and corruption in 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,” Minister Muthambi said.
She said departments have heeded the instruction by President Jacob Zuma to address weaknesses in procurement, management and operations systems that undermine the efficiency of government.
During his State of the Nation Address, President Zuma introduced the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption, whose purpose is to oversee the work of state organs and help fight the scourge of corruption in the public and private sectors.
This will be supported by the Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill, which has been introduced to address issues of corruption, the lack of professionalism in the public service, and the lack of common standards.
The PAM Bill, when signed into law, will prohibit public servants from doing business with the State.
It will also introduce 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, maladministration and unethical conduct will not be tolerated,” said Minister Muthambi.
Other interventions include the anti-corruption strategy, which entails stringent rules and procedures to stop nepotism and favouritism. Training for all public servants on the code of conduct, ethics and corruption will be conducted.
Key pieces of legislation that are also aimed at addressing corruption include the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
Minister Muthambi said government is hard at work to end the cycle of corruption, and called 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,” she said.
Corruption can be reported by calling the 24-hour hotline 0800 701 701, sending a text message to 39772 or email to: Integrity@publicservicecorruptionhotline.org.za or by reporting to the publicservicecorruptionhotline.org.za or any Public Service Commission office located across the country. - SAnews.gov.za
