More than 20 officials in the Limpopo department of health are facing a disciplinary inquiry after an audit report alleged that they irregularly received contracts worth millions of rands from the department.
Recently, departmental spokesperson Phuti Seloba confirmed that the officials, who failed to declare their interests in companies that rendered services to the department, would be hauled before a disciplinary hearing as early as next week on charges of irregularities and gross misconduct. He said some officials would be charged with fraud after they claimed hundreds of thousands of rands through their companies from the department as tax, when they were not even registered for VAT.
“This is a very serious matter. We are convinced that there has been a breach of policy, and nobody is going to escape,” said Seloba.
The allegations against the health department officials are contained in a confidential management report compiled by the auditor general as part of a nationwide crackdown on government officials and politicians who moonlight as business executives.
According to the Public Service Code of Conduct, no government official may perform remunerative work outside his or her employment without permission. Senior managers are obliged to declare all their business and financial interests.
Yet, the auditor general’s investigation found that thousands of public servants have failed to declare their business interests to their relevant departments.
According to the Sunday Times, in Limpopo alone, the audit has found that 2 800 officials, including 28 senior managers in the departments of health and education, have failed to declare their business interests.
This week the Mail & Guardian obtained a copy of the auditor general’s management report, prepared for the department of health.
It paints a picture of widespread misconduct, poor management controls, failure to adhere to statutory obligations and, possibly, corruption, raising concerns about the provincial government’s ability to discharge its mandate.
The report, which has not been released publicly, shows that more than 1 000 of over 23 000 officials in the department of health were doing business with the provincial administration. Twenty-seven of these officials were doing business directly with the department.
“Payments made to the affected companies amounted to R1 265 276,26 and R216 537,32 for health and welfare respectively during the 2002/2003 financial year. Furthermore, these employees did not have approval to perform remunerative work outside their employment, in the public service,” says the report.
Investigators also found that a number of companies — some of which were linked to the health officials — claimed more than R1-million for tax from the department, when they were not even registered for VAT.
The auditor general has recommended civil or criminal procedure against such companies.
Seloba said the department would refer the matter to the police for criminal charges once the internal disciplinary actions were complete.
“Where we find that people have committed criminal offence, we will refer the matter to the police for prosecution. We are obliged to take out corrupt elements from the public service,” said Seloba.
Although the report also showed that almost half of the executive members of the department failed to declare their business interests, Seloba said that these officials had not bene-fited financially from the department or the provincial administration.
“Most of the executive members and senior managers were involved in Section 21 companies. Some of them were no longer actively involved in their companies,” said Seloba.
Double-jobbing in Mpumalanga
The nationwide crackdown on govern-ment officials and politicians who moonlight as business executives has also revealed widespread corruption in the Mpumalanga provincial government.
An audit report presented to the provincial legislature in 2004 shows that 1 103 government employees were directors or members of business entities. Of these, 42 were directors of business entities that were doing business with the provincial government. Furthermore, 17 of these employees were involved in companies that did business directly with their own departments. Not a single one of these employees, according to the auditor general’s report, could prove that they had obtained permission to perform work outside their employment as required by the Public Service Act.
Investigators found that a number of government contracts were awarded to departmental officials, as in many cases the same officials participated in the procure-ment and approval processes.
The audit also found that departments did not always ensure that business entities were appointed at the lowest possible price. This, according to the report, resulted in some business entities, in which government employees are directors or members, being appointed at prices higher than those of competitors for the same service to be rendered.
The report also noted that often payments to business entities, in which government officials had interests, were not always reconciled to the original amounts at which the tenders had been awarded. In one instance, a tender for the provision of catering services at Philadelphia Hospital was awarded at an amount of R1,9-million, but the actual payment made by the provincial department of health amounted to R3,4-million. — Matuma Letsoalo