While over R100 million has been recovered through the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) since it was opened five years ago, the credibility of the hotline is in the spotlight as government departments fail to take action.
The Public Service Commission (PSC), which manages the hotline, says departments are slow to act as call volumes continued to rise. As of 27 September this year, a total of 6 606 cases of alleged corruption had been lodged through the hotline, and referred to the appropriate government departments for investigation.
This year, 533 cases had been referred to departments, and feedback has been received from less than 50% of the departments. In the past financial year, 1 849 cases were referred to departments - of which only 165 had been closed.
Stan Sangweni, chairperson of the PSC, says the number of cases of alleged corruption reported increases on a yearly basis and this puts pressure on departments to deal with alleged corruption cases.
“The PSC is concerned about the ability of departments to investigate cases referred to them given the poor track record regarding feedback and the conclusion of cases. The fact that calls to the hotline are increasing may lead to further frustration by callers if their cases are not investigated, which will have a negative impact on the credibility of the NACH,” says Sangweni.
Public service and administration minister Richard Baloyi says the various departments are investigating the allegations concerned.
“Only 14 government officials had been arrested, while another six cases were pending for this year. As a result of the successful investigations, 201 officials were found guilty of misconduct. Of these cases, 29 officials were suspended, 112 officials were given final written warnings and 60 officials were dismissed,” he says.
Delayed solutions
“In order for cases to be closed, departments must provide detailed investigative reports to the PSC. The time taken for an investigation to be finalised, however, takes very long. This raises concern about the investigative capacity within departments to deal with cases of corruption referred to them,” says Sangweni.
Cases of fraud and bribery - including allegations of officials claiming overtime without rendering any activities - topped the list with 1 390 complaints reported.
This was followed by abuse of government resources, with 876 complaints, and mismanagement of government funds, with 803 cases - including mismanagement of school funds by teachers and school principals - making up 16% of these cases.
A total of 643 cases involved procurement irregularities with collusion between the public official issuing the tender and an associate, who is often a family member or friend seeking to win the tender.
“The limited resources of departments curtail their ability to build the required investigative capacity to deal with cases of alleged corruption, and the PSC believes the time has come to commit as much resources as possible to departments to address these capacity constraints,” says Sangweni.
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