In answer to a Parliamentary question this week, President Jacob Zuma expressed satisfaction with the government's action against corruption.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille suggested this contradicts the 2010 State of Public Service Report, which shows that government is unable to account for at least two-thirds of the cases reported to its National Anti-Corruption Hotline, which was established as part of a legislative and infrastructural framework that was put in place to thwart corruption.
However, Zuma assured her there was no contradiction. “We have scored several achievements with regards to the investigation of cases of alleged corruption reported on the National Anti-Corruption Hotline.”
The president added that reports provided to the Public Service Commission (PSC) show that, since the establishment of the hotline six years ago, 235 officials were found guilty of misconduct.
Of these cases, 35 officials were suspended, 120 were given final written warnings and 80 officials were dismissed. In addition, a total of one R100 million was recovered from perpetrators, according to Zuma.
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the hotline has had positive spin-offs, not only in terms of monetary value, but also in terms of disciplinary action taken against perpetrators.”
Minimal feedback
On the matter of cases that are unaccounted for, Zuma said the commission is currently following up with departments on all outstanding cases that were reported to the hotline to ensure that departments fulfil their obligations in investigating these cases.
The credibility of the hotline was previously in the spotlight, as government departments failed to take action against reported cases.
The PSC, which manages the hotline, said departments are slow to act as call volumes continued to rise.
It added that less than 50% of cases reported to departments last year received feedback. In that financial year, 1 849 cases were referred to departments - of which only 165 had been closed.
Cases of fraud and bribery - including allegations of officials claiming overtime without rendering any activities - topped the list, with 1 390 complaints reported since the hotline's establishment.
This was followed by abuse of government resources, mismanagement of government funds - including mismanagement of school funds by teachers and school principals - and cases involving procurement irregularities with collusion between a public official issuing a 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 many resources as possible to departments to address these capacity constraints,” said Stan Sangweni, chairperson of the PSC.
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