Pretoria - The Public Service Commission (PSC) has warned top politicians against issuing unlawful instructions to their juniors to award multimillion-rand contracts or other government businesses to companies and individuals of their choice.
The body issued the warning when it tabled its report on the quarterly performance of the public service for the period July to September this year, in Pretoria yesterday.
Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya said unlawful instruction and ethical dilemmas in the public service had become the norm, and mostly junior officials were prone to being used to do the dirty work, while their political bosses were allegedly hugely rewarded by businesses that benefited illegally from government contracts.
“Corruption has become endemic across three spheres of South African government and has permeated across all spheres of government. It undermines democracy and public trust in the government and negatively affects state services, and thus community and social development. Corruption also damages economic development and job creation efforts, as well as investor confidence in the country.”
He said the Zondo Commission had highlighted the seriousness of corruption and unethical practices, adding that one of the key issues was the issuing of unlawful instruction by executive authorities and some senior managers with influential positions in government.
“When President Cyril Ramaphosa testified at the Zondo Commission in August 2021, one of the admissions he made was that many competent and highly skilled state officials either left the public service or were sidelined if they refused to perform certain illegal instructions.
“The foundational goal of public service is development. The ethical values of professionalism, transparency, accountability and responsibility are at the centre of development. From the dawn of our democracy, the South African government has introduced a comprehensive legislative and regulatory framework to regulate ethical conduct, practices and build national integrity,” Gxoyiya said.
He said they had developed an explanatory manual on unlawful instructions and ethical dilemmas in the workplace to provide “a fundamental yardstick to fight corruption”.
According to Gxoyiya, anecdotal evidence on complaints received by the PSC indicated that certain executive authorities made unlawful instructions in various departments.
Pretoria News