Cape Town - The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has called for tough new laws, including blacklisting officials who are involved in corruption and preventing them from resigning and joining other departments.
This comes after it emerged that several senior officials at Eskom had jumped ship before they were charged with corruption.
This prevented Eskom from taking disciplinary action against the officials.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Wednesday told Scopa that there has been corruption in the public sector, and that it must come to an end.
In a report to the committee, head of the SIU, Andy Mothibi, said they identified 5452 officials at Eskom who had failed to disclose their financial interests.
They also found that 135 officials were doing business with Eskom, to the value of R6billion.
Mothibi also said seven of the eight officials under suspicion resigned when lifestyle audits were conducted. Out of the disciplinary cases conducted, four officials resigned.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said there must be consequences for people who resign before they face action, and this should include blacklisting them from joining other departments or entities and freezing their pensions until the cases are finalised.
Hlengwa said they need to meet with the Employment and Labour, Public Service and Administration, and Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs departments on officials who resign before they face disciplinary action.
Political Bureau