An online database of municipal officials dismissed for misconduct will soon be running and it is hoped that this will prevent transgressors being re-employed at other municipalities, the Ministry for Co-operative Governance said last week.
The ministry said in a statement the centralised database would be a "blacklisting" system and would aim to warn other municipalities in cases where officials resigned before their disciplinary proceedings were finalised.
This was in accordance with the Municipal Systems Act, as amended in 2011, which forbids municipal officials dismissed for financial misconduct, corruption, or fraud from being re-appointed in any municipality for at least ten years.
The ministry was allowed to gather information on these offenders, and this information would be made available to municipalities for checks during recruitment to ensure compliance with the Act.
AfriForum spokesman Ivan Herselman said in a statement that organisation had written to Co-operative Governance Minister Richard Baloyi requesting that such a system be put in place.
This would help communities to keep watch on appointments in their municipalities.
"If the will not to re-employ these individuals does not come from within government, the right to have them removed must be exercised from outside government," Herselman said.
Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge