Govt departments quicker in filling posts

© Fotolia.com

The percentage of the funded vacant posts in the public sector has also been decreased to 9.1% in December last year, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said.

She was speaking during the Governance and Administration Cluster media briefing in Parliament. The briefing follows the State Of the Nation Address delivered by President Jacob Zuma on 13 February.

"The target of ensuring that vacancies are below 10 percent at any given time has been achieved," the minister said.

Minister Pandor also mentioned that during the 2013 financial year, no government department received an adverse audit report, with the number of departments with declaimer audits dropping to five from 10 in the2009/10 financial year.

Tackling corruption

To deal with the problem of corruption in the public service, Minister Pandor said to date, more than 6,000 officials have been trained on an anti-corruption capacity building programme.

In the State of the Nation Address, President Zuma mentioned that since the launch of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline by the Public Service Commission, over 13,000 cases of corruption and maladministration have been referred to government departments for further handling and investigation.

Government has recovered more than R320 million from perpetrators through the National Anti-Corruption Hotline.

On Tuesday, Minister Pandor said the percentage of the hotline cases closed by departments increased by more than 10% as of 31 December 2013, compared to 23% in August 2011. Some of the successes of the hotline, include the following:

• 1,542 officials were dismissed from the Public Service;
  
• 140 officials were fined their three months' salary;
  
• 20 officials were demoted;
  
• 355 officials were given final written warnings and
  
• 204 officials were prosecuted.

Minister Pandor noted that the Public Administration Amendment Bill, which sought to produce public servants grounded by professional ethics, integrity and discipline, was currently before the National Council of Provinces. The Bill will set national standards for the entire Public Service, which employs more than one million people.

Amongst other things, the Bill will prohibit employees from conducting business with the State.

It will also allow for the mobility of staff within the public sector, which may also include secondments where there is skills shortage.

Presidential hotline

Minister Pandor also mentioned that the resolution rate for received calls to the Presidential hotline had improved to 94.7% as from December, up from the 39% recorded in November 2009 when the hotline was set up.