Cape Town – The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Lindiwe Sisulu, today urged ordinary South Africans and Parliament to get behind a proposed bureau to tackle corruption in the public sector, which the department hopes to have up and running next month.
The proposal to set up the Anti-corruption Bureau is contained in the Public Administration Management Bill, which was published for comment last Friday.
Responding to questions raised by MPs on how the department would ensure the credibility of the bureau, Sisulu told the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on public service and administration that there were no shortcuts to assuring the credibility of the proposed bureau.
“It is only when we show the country that we are determined to deal with this scourge… [will] we … be able to create the necessary credibility, nothing else… There are no shortcuts,” said Sisulu, whose department wants to appoint a high profile person to head the unit.
MPs also raised concern about the funding available in the budget, with R6 million in seed money having been allocated to help set up the bureau, falling short of the R17 million the department says is required to fund its first year of operation.
However, Sisulu said she hoped that the department would be able to persuade the National Treasury to make more funds available, particularly as the bureau would be able to save the government millions by tackling corruption and helping to recover monies secured through corrupt practices.
The bureau was modelled on the Anti-corruption Bureau of Tanzania, which Sisulu said had become effective in that it is able to access data from various agencies and entities to combat corrupt activities.
The Tanzanian bureau also has a review of the tender procedures.
The department’s existing anti-corruption unit, said Sisulu, had not proved successful, because of a lack of capacity and because it lacked the necessary legal authority.
Mokete Mahapa, the head of the department’s deputy director general of governance and international relations, said the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had seconded officials to the bureau.
So far, 604 presiding officers had been trained – exceeding the department’s target of 200.
Mahapa said the bureau would conduct investigations and institute disciplinary proceeding and work with existing law enforcement agencies, such as the SIU and NPA and the other related agencies such as Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) and Sars.
Criminal cases would be referred to law enforcement agencies.
The bureau would also provide technical assistance and advisory support to deal with disciplinary matters in the public administration, while ensuring that uniform standards for disciplinary standards are used across the public sector.
A case management system would allow officials to monitor the progress of cases to ensure that they are finalised speedily.
An agreement was already in place with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, he said.
The minister’s legal advisor, Menzi Simelane, added that those whistleblowers who felt threatened could be referred to the police’s witness protection programme. – SAnews.gov.za
