Johannesburg - The country’s premiers, alongside President Cyril Ramaphosa, have been urged to act against more than 80 senior government officials who have failed to declare their financial interests.
In June, the Public Service Commission wrote to Ramaphosa and the premiers asking that they institute punitive measures against heads of government departments found wanting.
This was revealed by PSC commissioner Mike Selloane who, this time around, lamented that the major defaulters were employed by the national government, while Eastern Cape provincial government officials came up second.
“As of May 31, 2019, the PSC received 9834 (97%) financial disclosure forms, out of the expected 10135 from senior management service (SMS) members in the national and provincial government departments, and national government components in terms of Regulation 18 of the Public Service Regulations (PSR), 2016.
Selloane said the number of SMS members in national departments supposed to disclose their financial interest was 5797, but only 5737 made such disclosures to the commission.
“This number represents 96.6% of the total of financial disclosures we expected from the national departments. The national components submitted to the PSC 56 (39%) of the financial disclosure forms, out of a total of 143 expected.
“This was despite the fact that the SMS members who disclosed their financial interest within the stipulated due date of April 30, 2019, were 88.”
He added that the total of SMS members who did not disclose their financial interests as required by Regulations 18(1) and (2) of the PSR, 2016, was 81.
Selloane also revealed that the PSC will undergo a second phase of the probe into these disclosures by finding out if these officials have any other conflicts of interest. While he expressed unhappiness about conduct of the national officials, Selloane had a reason to smile after the Free State government under Premier Sisi Ntombela recorded a 100% submission.
All 370 officials in all 12 departments of the Free State government submitted their forms before the deadline this year. Officials in the Northern Cape under Premier Zamani Saul and North West under Premier Job Mokgoro have also made 100% disclosures.
Northern Cape has 243 SMS members while North West has 356.