According to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), one of the 305 public servants currently on suspension, with full pay, has been suspension for a solid 4 years.
This worrying revelation is contained in a written reply by the DPSA to DA Parliamentary questions on, amongst other things, how long each of the 305 public servants currently on suspension, with full pay, and costing the South African tax payer more than R130 million, have been on suspension and the reasons for their suspensions.
The written reply also revealed that a public servant in the Department of Defence has been on suspension for 3 years (1157 days) for stealing state rations; followed by a public servant in the Department of Health that has been on suspension for 2 and a half years for fraud (930 days); and a senior public servant in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development that has been on suspension for 2 years (778 days) for negligence.
At a provincial department level – a public servant in the Gauteng Department of Economic Development has been on suspension for 4 years (1604 days) for fraud, followed by 3 public servants in the Northern Cape Department of Education that have been on suspension for 2 to 3 years for the sexual harassment of learners.
Given that the written reply contains a number of gaps in relation to information on provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, it is highly possible that some provincial departments have public servants that have been on suspension for longer than 4 years.
The DA, accordingly, reiterates its calls for the DPSA, as the custodian of policy and prescripts in the public service, to urgently develop and implement a discipline management strategy that will assist government departments to finalise disciplinary cases within the 90 day period stipulated and prescribed by the Public Service Regulations.
It is grossly unfair that, year in and year out, the already burdened South African tax payer continues to pay a heavy price for the ongoing discipline management crisis in the public service.