Top cops paid not to work

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Cape Town - 090127 - At Khayelitsha's Nonceba Hall on National Police Day there was a meeting to help organize how local organizations could assist the police in dealing with community issues. Photo by Skyler Reid.

Published Nov 20, 2011

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A succession of dodgy police chiefs, along with an array of other top senior civil servants suspended with full pay and benefits, are bleeding the public coffers dry as they sit at home at the expense of South African taxpayers.

After already paying over R30 million towards legal and financial support for former police commissioner Jackie Selebi and former Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride, taxpayers are now being forced to dig deep as they prepare to foot the bill for the salary and legal fees of the latest suspended police chief, General Bheki Cele.

As the Public Service and Administration ministry expressed concern over long delays in finalising these suspension cases, Cele remains on suspension with full pay and benefits, understood to be R1.3m to R1.5m a year. Millions more could be added in legal fees.

In terms of the disciplinary code for senior management staff, suspension cases should be finalised within 60 days. But the chairman can decide on further postponements.

Selebi was found guilty of corruption, McBride was found guilty of drunk driving, while Cele was placed on suspension with full pay on October 23, pending the outcome of a commission of inquiry into his alleged misconduct in relation to the R1.7 billion SAPS head-office lease saga.

National police spokeswoman Colonel Tummi Shai confirmed Cele’s pay is between R1.3m and R1.5m annually.

But the board of inquiry set to investigate Cele is apparently taking only baby steps. The three-member team met two weeks ago, and has received relevant documents, including the damning Public Protector’s report, which found that Cele acted unlawfully, and that his role in the procurement of the leases amounted to maladministration, as well as Cele’s response to President Jacob Zuma’s request in late August for reasons why he should not be suspended.

Inquiry chairman Judge Jake Moloi said that “preparations are under way”, and that the leader of evidence was dealing with the documents, which were “quite bulky”.

There are, however, no timeframes for the inquiry, and it is understood the matter of securing a Pretoria venue is still outstanding.

Concerns are now being raised that this may be a repeat of the Selebi issue; he earned about R1m a year, and was placed on special leave for 18 months during his trial, from February 2008 to the following July. Taxpayers paid as much as R1.5m for his salary before he was convicted last July of taking bribes from a drug dealer.

For his legal costs, taxpayers have reportedly paid R17.4m.

In respect of McBride, taxpayers paid at least R12m for his defence, and about R1m to cover his salary since December 2006.

He appeared on his drunk driving charge for the first time in March 2008, and was convicted in April this year. He was dismissed in September 2008, following a disciplinary hearing.

Now, however, Selebi, who was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, and McBride, who was sentenced to five years, are appealing. McBride is also appealing his dismissal before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

Opposition parties have called on police chiefs who have already been found guilty in court to repay the state.

Others collecting their salaries from their couches include

Public Works director-general Siviwe Dongwana, who is reportedly earning a salary package of R1.5m and has been out of the office since December last year, when the-then minister suspended him over the police head-office lease debacle.

The matter was meant to be wrapped up within three months, according to a department statement, but it has dragged on.

More recently, the public works acting director-general, Sam Vukela, was put on special leave pending an internal investigation into possible charges related to the discovery in September of tender irregularities involving R3bn.

Acting director-general Mandla Mabuza is the third to hold the post in a year. According to Public Ser-vice Commission information,

the average pay at the top rank of level 16 was R1.2m last year.

Many directors-general have negotiated their own packages. These can range from the R1.5m a year earned by Dongwana, to the lowest, at R976 317, earned by higher education director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde when he held the post in an acting capacity earlier this year, said City Press.

It reported in March that Government Communication and Information System boss Jimmy Manyi earns R1.339m. He was appointed after being suspended with full pay for several months from the Labour Department’s top post, although the disciplinary proceedings were never completed.

Last week the Public Service and Administration ministry acknowledged “the effect that long suspensions could have on service delivery”.

Meanwhile, the director-general’s post at water affairs remains vacant after former incumbent Pam Yako was dismissed in August last year after just over a year on suspension, with pay, following an investigation into irregular expenditure of R1bn.

The agriculture director-general post was filled in September last year, just over a year after Njabulo Nduli was put on special leave.

Also on suspension for about a year was correctional services director-general Xoliswa Sibeko, for hiring accommodation at exorbitant costs. In a settlement, she received R700 000.

In November last year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) published a fact sheet on the high turnover of heads of department, such as directors-general, around the April 2009 election period. By that July, five had been suspended, and by November three remained on suspension.

The PSC expressed concern, not only about the high turnover, but also the lengthy periods for which top posts were filled by acting staff.

Concerns emerged that disciplinary hearings were not finalised speedily, and that sanctions for officials found guilty of corrupt behaviour were sometimes too lenient – often a final or written warning – without the case being referred to the police. - Sunday Argus

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