Cape Town - The Public Service Commission has warned that the State Security Agency has failed to disclose the financial interests of its senior officials.
The law requires that senior officials across government must disclose their financial interests to avoid conflicts of interests and other related matters.
In a report tabled in Parliament, the PSC said SSA has not disclosed financial interests for its senior officials since the 2014/15 financial year.
SSA has cited security reasons for not being able to disclose the financial interests of their senior members.
The PSC said there were hundreds of government officials in senior positions, both at national and provincial departments, who have failed to make financial disclosures.
“This overall total included 124 SMS members in the State Security Agency (SSA). The SSA has not been submitting their financial disclosure forms since the 2014/2015 reporting period, citing security reasons and the sensitivity of data relating to its employees and service providers. The PSC however, initiated discussion with the SSA in the quest to find common ground to ensure that SSA, like other departments, complies with the provisions of the framework,” said the PSC in its report.
The report also found that there were officials who were doing work outside of government.
It said there were 359 officials who received millions for doing work outside of government. The officials made R59 million for working outside government and this was less than the amount they made the previous financial year.
“The combined income generated by the SMS members as a result of engagement in (other remunerative work) was R59 168 555.08, which is 11% less than what was generated in the preceding financial year. The biggest chunk of this amount (R36 640 727.21) was generated by 208 SMS members in the national departments, followed by those in the provincial departments.
“The SMS members in the provincial departments (144) earned a combined income of R22 155 404.87 during the 2020/2021 financial year, while those in the national government components (7) earned a combined income of R372 423.00. Only 52% (168) of these SMS members provided proof that they obtained prior permission to do so in terms of section 30 of the Act.
“The SMS members in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West provinces, did not provide evidence that they obtained the necessary approval to engage in (other remunerative work), as required by section 30 of the Act,” said the report.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Political Bureau