The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Noxolo Kiviet, says the Public Service Amendment Bill will ban senior officials in national and provincial departments from holding political office in a bid to prevent a conflict of interest.
She said this law, once passed by Parliament, would not allow senior officials to hold positions in political parties.
She said there were mechanisms in place to support ministers in handling issues of conflict of interest.
Kiviet, who joined Ministers in the Governance Cluster to answer questions in Parliament on Wednesday, said the Public Service Amendment Bill that was before Parliament was different from the Municipal Systems Act, which was challenged in court by unions.
The Labour Court ruled that the Municipal Systems Act challenged, which was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, was unconstitutional and invalid.
That law banned municipal officials from holding political office.
The Public Service Administration was tabled in Parliament before the Labour Court judgment.
Kiviet said the Public Service Administration Bill, currently before the national legislature, sought to prohibit senior officials at national and provincial levels from holding political office to prevent a conflict of interest.
“I must hasten to add that the Labour Court judgment refers to all employees at local government level. Our piece of legislation that we are proposing to Parliament limits it to those who report directly to the heads of departments and the heads of departments themselves. There is a limit because of the level of decision-making they have and the potential for conflict of interest.
“It is South Africa’s Zondo Commission that highlighted a number of challenges in public service management, especially in areas of conflict of interest. It is not about de-politicising public servants; it is about managing conflicts of interest. We have complained as citizens to say that those of the public servants who hold political office end up being masters at night and servants during the day because they report to political leaders, yet they lead those political leaders when they are outside of work, and that is where the conflict of interest is. That is where our proposals seek to manage: to prohibit that conflict of interest.
“Let me indicate upfront there is no backtracking here. We have a piece of legislation, which we tabled before this parliament even before the Labour Court judgment,” said Kiviet.
She said the intention of the legislation was to prevent heads of departments and officials reporting to them from holding political office.
This would prevent a conflict of interest.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics