Pretoria - Cabinet has warmly acknowledged the dedication and professional service of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the outpouring of support messages and citizens who mobilised to find baby Siwaphiwe Mbambo.
Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe, said this on Thursday during a Post Cabinet media briefing held in Pretoria.
“This demonstrates that when South Africans work together we can make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable.”
The baby’s mother on Friday reported to the police that her Toyota Yaris had been hijacked by two men with her one-month-old baby on the back seat.
A photo of missing baby Siwaphiwe, who was reportedly snatched during a carjacking, went viral on social media as concerned South Africans shared the photo in the hopes of someone spotting her.
The car was later found abandoned in Montclair with the baby and the nappy bag missing.
On Sunday morning, three people, including the 34-year-old biological mother of baby Siwaphiwe, were arrested by the police after the baby was rescued unharmed during a roadblock in Marianhill.
Baby Siwaphiwe’s mother and one of the accused have since been granted R1 000 bail in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
The baby has been placed under the care of Social Development.
Fighting corruption
Minister Radebe also expressed Cabinet’s satisfaction on government's national anti-corruption hotline, which is helping to identify cases of fraud.
“As of 31 January this year, 18 778 cases had been referred to government departments and feedback was received on 17 249 cases. [About] 90 percent of cases had been closed and 3 600 officials had been found guilty of misconduct between 2004 and January 2017.
“The majority of public servants are honest and continue to deliver services and do their work.”
In another major anti-corruption initiative, Minister Radebe said, government has moved to ensure that public service employees are barred from doing business with government departments and other organs of state.
“The transitional period for public servants to declare their activities under the 2016 public service regulations ended on 31 January 2017.
“By 1 February 2017, those public servants who were conducting business with an organ of state should have resigned from either their businesses, or from the public service employment.”
He said the Department of Public Service and Administration is currently working on collating information on public service employees who failed to comply with the new regulations.
Once the process is completed, he said, disciplinary processes will be instituted against all who failed to comply. - SAnews.gov.za
