More than 700 complaints about behaviour, competency and attitude were lodged against public servants via the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) in 2005/06.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) said on Thursday that 389 complaints were lodged against staff at national departments and 353 at provincial departments.
Out of 757 complaints received, only 15 were related to private companies. The rest related to public service.
The 757 complaints ranged from unfair labour practice and poor service delivery to corruption.
”In this regard, the majority of cases lodged with the NACH [other than those relating to corruption] involved unethical behaviour, followed by poor service delivery, prison conditions for inmates and human resource-related issues,” said the PSC report on trend analysis on complaints received in 2004/05 and 2005/06 financial years.
The commission is a platform for public servants and the public to lodge complaints about poor service and report corruption.
The report said 386 of these cases were referred to departments (both national and provincial) for investigation and to provide feedback and comment to the PSC.
It also said that 116 complaints were lodged with the PSC in terms of the complaints rules during the 2005/06 financial year.
”Of these, 67 related to national departments, 38 to provincial departments, four to local government and five to private companies, whilst in two instances the institutions involved were unknown.”
The PSC said 45 of these cases were investigated and finalised, 30 were still in progress and another 30 were referred to other institutions for investigation.
Poor documentation and record management at government departments made the commission’s job difficult during investigations.
”In addition, some employees were reluctant to provide the necessary information to the investigating teams appointed by the PSC, sometimes for fear of being victimised,” the report said.
It also said anonymous complaints sometimes could not be investigated due to insufficient information provided by complainants.
The PSC investigates cases before making recommendations to concerned departments. — Sapa