SOE employees paid R18m for sitting at home doing nothing

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula Photo: Twitter

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula Photo: Twitter

Published Sep 17, 2020

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Johannesburg – Nearly 90 employees of nine state-owned entities (SOEs), which fall under the Transport Department, have been sitting at home doing nothing while pocketing a total of R18.4 million in salaries.

This was revealed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, who said the 86 employees had been on suspension for a combined 562-month period.

Mbalula made the disclosure in response to parliamentary questions from DA MP Chris Hunsinger.

Hunsinger had enquired about the number of employees in each entity that were currently on suspension, the number of months combined of suspended staff members and expenditure costs of all suspensions.

Mbalula’s replies showed the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has the highest number of officials on suspension at 49.

In his reply, Mbalula said 12 employees were on suspension at the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) over a combined 84 months.

He said the cost of expenditure on all the Acsa employees currently under suspension was R1 386.297.

Mbalula revealed that Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) had seven suspended employees over a combined 13 months.

"Six were suspended on 02 June 2019 and one was suspended on 24 May 2019. All cases are due for completion by the end of August 2020."

He said salaries to the value of R4 999 959.44, had been paid to the suspended employees as at the end of June.

The minister stated that two employees were on suspension at Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA), with one being suspended for 13 months and another 10 months.

"The cost to the company in respect of all staff currently under suspension for the C-BRTA is R 4 322 818.08."

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) currently has nine employees on suspension for a combined 40 months.

"The total cost to company expenditure in respect of all staff currently under suspension R1 942 648.99," Mbalula said about RAF.

One employee at the Road Transport Infringement Agency was on suspension for five months, costing R109 525 in salary.

Mbalula also said one employee had been on suspension at the South African Maritime Safety Authority for 10 months, as at July 26, to the cost of R1 136 799.34.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority currently has one employee on suspension for a period of nine months at a cost to the company of R68 403.01 per month, which totals to R615 627.09 for the nine-month period, he said.

"The employee is currently undergoing a disciplinary hearing which is in the final stages and should be concluded at the end of July 2020. The hearing was delayed because of lockdown."

Mbalula stated that the Prasa had 49 employees on suspension over 377 combined months at the cost of R2 884 260.86.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation has four employees currently on suspension for 11 months.

"The cost to company expenditure in respect of all staff currently on suspension is R1 052 399.98," he said.

Political Bureau

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