The DA is calling for Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet and her department to take appropriate disciplinary action against senior managers and civil servants who are unable to prove that they had permission to engage in paid work outside the public service.
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This comes after the minister responded to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mimmy Gondwe after the Public Service Commission found 379 members of the senior management service (SMS) were engaged in other remunerative work.
According to Kiviet, only 203 SMS members were able to prove that they obtained prior authorisation to engage in other remunerative work.
‘The national departments had in total 212 SMS members who were engaged in other remunerative work during the period under review.’
‘Only 128 of these SMS members provided proof of prior approval to engage in other remunerative work. The other 84 did not provide such proof, which could either mean that they engaged in other remunerative work without obtaining prior permission to do so, or it could have been oversight on their part,’ she said.
Kiviet added that the total number of SMS members who were able to provide proof that they sought permission prior to engaging in other paid work was a revised total of 216.
‘The majority of these SMS members (128) were found in the national departments. Provincial departments has a revised total of 88 SMS members.’
The minister stated that SMS members who could not prove 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.’
The responses proved that the senior managers pocketed R45 049 361 10 during the 2021/22 financial year.
‘Of this total, R31 385 858 50 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 62.’
A total of 35 SMS members who were engaged in other remunerative work during the period under review were known to the Western Cape government.
‘Three of these SMS members did not provide proof of prior approval to engage in other remunerative work.’
‘They are from the Departments of Education; Provincial Treasury and Transport and Public Works,’ she said.
‘The three affected SMS members who did not provide proof of approval to engage in other remunerative work generated a combined total amount of R26 057 47 during the period under review,’ Kiviet said.
Various actions were taken as a result of the Public Service Commission’s findings and recommendations, according to the minister.
‘The actions taken were not limited to infractions relating to other remunerative work, but to non-compliance with the Financial Disclosure Framework in general.’
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Picture: Unsplash / Michal Matlon