SOUTH AFRICA: PSC RECORDS INCREASE IN REPORTING OF CORRUPTION CASES

Tue 14 June 2022:

The Public Service Commission (PSC) says it has recorded a total of 701 227 calls on the Case Management System (CMS) of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) for alleged corruption as at 31 March 2022.

These include dropped calls and those which were made for purposes of inquiries and seeking advice.

Public Service Commission (PSC) Commissioner, Anele Gxoyiya, said that a cumulative figure of 25 100 case reports were generated and referred to the departments and public bodies/entities for investigation.

Gxoyiya was addressing a media briefing on the commission’s quarterly bulletin titled the Pulse of the Public Service covering the period 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022, in Pretoria, on Tuesday.

“During the fourth quarter of 2021/2022 financial year, the PSC recorded a total of 597 cases. These cases are slightly higher than 347 cases received in the third quarter and 282 received in the second quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year,” he said.

The Commissioner said there has been a slight increase in the reporting of cases through the NACH.

“This may be due to increased awareness of legislation relating to the protection of whistle-blowers such as the Protected Disclosures Act, thus instilling confidence in the process and outcomes of blowing the whistle,” Gxoyiya.

Overall number of grievances handled by the PSC

Up to the end of March 2022, the PSC had registered a total of 558 grievances, including 158 carried over from the previous financial year.

Of the 558 grievances, Gxoyiya said 140 (25%) were not properly referred and 418 (75%) were properly referred.

“Grievances which were not properly referred are those that were either being dealt with elsewhere, such as bargaining councils, and those that were still not finalized in the departments,” he said.

The Commissioner said that the PSC is concerned about the continued referral of grievances outside the provisions of the Grievance Rules, 2003.

As a result, the PSC has called upon Labour Relations Officers within departments to ensure that on an annual basis employees are workshopped on these Rules.

Gxoyiya aslo called on unions to play an active role in assisting their members in lodging grievances, and where the time-frame for lodging grievances has lapsed, to advise them accordingly.

“Of the 418 grievances that were properly referred to the PSC, approximately 95% are referred by employees and 5% are referred by Executive Authorities (EAs).

“Referral of grievances by employees is an indication that departments have failed to resolve these grievances internally within the prescribed time-frames,” he said.

– SAnews.gov.za

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