Barry Streek
In a move to fight corruption, police officers in South Africa are going to be required to submit an annual signed declaration of their personal financial interests including their ownership of property and shares.
“We are doing it because we want to run a very clean service,” Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete told the Mail & Guardian. “It is one of our instruments to combat corruption.
“We have found, for instance, some police officers were involved in deals, commercial deals, that compromised them as officers. So it is of fundamental importance that they declare so that we know what they have and where they are economically active.”
Tshwete said every police officer would have to disclose their interests and the move was aimed “to clean up possible corruption”.
The head of communications in the South African Police Service’s personnel division, Strini Govender, said he was not in a position to provide any examples of activities by police offices that compromised their position in the service, but said it was possible that some members had been involved in such activities.
The new requirements have been provided in an amendment to the South African Police Service Employment Regulations and have been published in the Government Gazette.
Within 30 days of April 1 every year, all police officers will have to declare their “registrable interests”. It will include shares and other financial interests in private or public companies and other corporate entities, directorships and partnerships, remunerated work outside the police service, consultancies and retainerships, sponsorships, gifts and hospitality from a source other than a family member, and ownership and other interests in land and property, whether inside or outside South Africa.
The declarations will have to be submitted to the safety and security minister, and only he, his designated staff, and the director general and members of the Public Service Commission will have access to them.
The Public Service Commission will assess the declarations and will report to the minister of safety and security if it believes there is any conflict of interests.
Police officers who fail to disclose an interest or provide incorrect or misleading details will be guilty of misconduct.