By the Daily Friend*
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is ‘stepping up efforts’ to prevent abuse of state funds meant for the poor by public representatives.
This was in response to the fact that parliament learnt last week that thousands of public servants have been illegally receiving social grants and the R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant monthly in a bid to top up their salaries.
‘It is common knowledge that applicants with other sources of income do not qualify for this grant. It is also self-evident that those who receive an income from the state are not eligible to apply. And yet they did. About 17,000 people employed at national and provincial government submitted applications in a bid to top up their salaries with money meant for the poor.
‘Given the extent of need in the country, one that our public servants know too well, this wilful intent to steal from the public purse is unforgivable,’ Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter on Monday.
The president said there was still a long way to go in rooting out corruption and instilling a culture of ethics in the public service. It shouldn’t be so after 27 years.
One new measure is the launch of a new ‘Public Administration: Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance’ unit in September.
The unit is to build capacity within public bodies to institute disciplinary proceedings in cases of misconduct, and ensure criminal cases involving public servants were made disciplinary cases.
President Ramaphosa doesn’t appear to understand the labour laws which have existed for over a decade. One of the ways to teach ethics is to dismiss people timeously for committing fraud and theft. An employer doesn’t wait for criminal proceedings to occur. They are irrelevant to disciplinary action.