NELSPRUIT – A total of 341 government officials in Mpumalanga have been found doing business with government over the past two years without declaring their interests. The premier Mr David Mabuza said this in the provincial legislature on Tuedsday where he was responding to questions from members.
The same day, the presidency announced that 1 728 officials at a provincial level were found guilty of misconduct related to corrupt activities nationwide over the past nine years. On average, each province would have had 192 culprits during the period from September 1, 2004 to August 31.
Mabuza explained that 241 officials were discovered through the Auditor General’s report for the 2011/12 financial year, while another 100 were detected through the government’s own early warning systems last year. He said disciplinary action has been taken against 258 of these officials who did not follow the stipulated prescripts.
These included final written warnings, suspensions without pay, and fines of up to over R6 000. Mabuza revealed that, to date, the provincial government has recovered R1,1 million from government officials who had unduly benefited from doing business with government. This amounted to 4,5% of the total combined amount involved over the two financial years.
Nationally, the president Mr Jacob Zuma said that of the total 2 638 officials found guilty of misconduct related to corrupt activities nationally, 210 were prosecuted, 600 were dismissed from the public service, 541 were given final written warnings, 256 were fined three months of their salary and 31 were demoted. Another 491 officials were also suspended.
Zuma said that information gathered from the anti-corruption hotline generated 17 110 cases of alleged corruption over the past nine years. He also said there was a gradual increase in the recovery of money and the number of disciplinary sanctions taken against the perpetrators. According to Zuma, the successful investigation of cases resulted in the recovery of R330 million rand.
