Durban - More than 500 of the over 1 500 public servants implicated in doing business with the government are from KwaZulu-Natal.
This emerged after Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu said on Thursday he had referred hundreds of state employees to the police for possible prosecution.
Mchunu’s spokesperson, Vukani Mbhele, said 528 of these employees were from KZN, but could not say which departments or municipalities they worked for, or the type of business or services they provided to the government.
The initiative to have public servants disclose business involvement with the government was introduced in 2017 and in 2018 KZN was found to have 175 cases.
This number had since increased by 353 cases.
In a statement released recently, Mchunu said his office had written to the relevant departments to take action against identified employees and to report investigation and disciplinary outcomes.
In terms of the Public Service Regulations, officials were required to submit the disclosed financial interests of civil servants to the Public Service Commission (PSC) by May 31 this year, according to the statement.
The PSC would then determine if there was potential or actual conflict of interest.
“The number of government employees found to be doing business with the State and those who failed to disclose their financial interests is concerning,” Mchunu said in the statement.
“This situation must be dealt with as the sixth administration has committed itself to fight corruption and maladministration. We will ensure that criminal charges are laid with the police to ensure that we put an end to the culture of pillaging our state resources with impunity.”
DA KZN leader Zwakele Mncwango said the province’s challenge was the lack of transparency and accountability from government through to departments and municipalities.
“Stop this secrecy nonsense if you want the affairs of government to be on the straight and narrow. The premier must ensure that things shouldn’t start by being exposed in the media and end there, but there must be consequences,” Mncwango said.
IFP MP Blessed Gwala said Mchunu should be applauded for taking action against transgressors. “It’s time for those found to have broken the law to face the music,” Gwala said.
Provincial government spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said KZN had stringent measures to ensure that public servants were not doing business with the government.