MBOMBELA – The Mpumalanga Department of Health paid almost R1 million to 19 of its officials for doing nothing in the year 2014/15. They were placed on precautionary suspension, which entails full pay.
In total, Mpumalanga Government departments spent more than R3 million to pay salaries of officials who were placed on precautionary suspension that year. This was revealed in the respective annual reports of the departments.
The exact figure the Department of Health had to pay these officials amounted to R957 287,89. They included three deputy director generals, two directors, two doctors, one deputy director, four nurses, four emergency-care practitioners as well as three administrative clerks. Their alleged misconduct included gross negligence, the misuse of state resources, insubordination and even assault.
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The average number of days they were suspended totalled 456. Of these 19, only two have been found guilty so far and were consequently dismissed.
One of these officials has been on precautionary suspension for 18 months. He is being charged with misconduct and the case still hasn’t been finalised.
The DA issued a media statement on Tuesday, stating that it was a violation of the Disciplinary Codes and Procedure for Public Service Policy, which stipulates that a precautionary suspension mustn’t exceed 60 days.
However, Mr Dumisani Malamule, spokesman for the department, upon enquiry said that there was an exception to this rule that the chairman of a disciplinary hearing may postpone it leading to an extension of the 60-day principle.
“We would like to state further that in this particular case, the disciplinary code wasn’t violated, as a chairman was appointed and duly postponed the matter in compliance with the code,” he added.
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Mr James Masango, provincial leader of the DA, said there was an urgent need for a plan to address wasteful spending on suspensions, which meant improving discipline management and ultimately reducing the number of suspensions.
“Suspensions not only strain the public purse, but also have a negative impact on service delivery. If posts are not vacated by suspended employees, they cannot be filled. This means that other employees have to shoulder additional responsibilities.
“This also hampers the chances of skilled unemployed South Africans to occupy such positions.”
