Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal government has recorded 61 precautionary suspensions of public servants, with the process resulting in an expenditure of more than R20 million from October last year.
This has been revealed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in its provincial financial disclosures report for the 2022/23 financial year, presented to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature last week.
The report indicated that KZN had 61 public servants who had been placed on suspension by various government departments, and the amount involved was R20 839 237.62.
“This is the total amount involved at the time this information was received by the PSC as of October 10, 2022,” read the report.
“The Public Service and Administration has noted with concern the management of discipline, especially precautionary suspension and other human resources management issues,” the report continued. It added that while the suspensions formed part of the human resources management regime, they should not be central when dealing with challenges within the workforce.
“The PSC advocates that precautionary suspensions must be used as a last resort. Departments are encouraged to explore other alternatives in the interest of service delivery, like transferring to other sections instead of suspension.”
It also revealed that 16 cases of financial misconduct totalling R7 124 592 had been completed during the year under review. The report pointed out that the cases varied from gross negligence, fraud and theft to misappropriation and abuse of state resources.
Scopa chairperson Maggie Govender said they would probe the departments when they appeared before the committee to determine if they had been affected by the episodes listed in the PSC report. She added that they had noted that the report had not indicated the departments that had recorded instances of misconduct of their employees.
“One of the realities to consider is that the PSC is a national institution accountable to Parliament, and that could be the reason why everything has not been disclosed to us, but it is something that we will probe with the departments.”
Govender indicated that they had received an assurance from KZN premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s office that the provincial government was doing away with precautionary suspensions as they were costly to taxpayers.
According to the Scopa chairperson, moving public servants to other units or departments while investigations continued, was a better move.
“This is something that we welcome because to have people on suspension getting paid while sitting at home is something that is costly to the state. So long as they do not contaminate the investigation process we are okay with such a measure,” Govender said.
Although the departments have not been named, there were suspicions that the departments of education and health were likely to feature prominently owing to the size of their workforce. Government departments are set to appear before Scopa in October.