GCIS
The Department of Public Service and Administration has revealed that 417 public service employees are on suspension with pay in both national and provincial departments.
In a written response to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance, the Department also revealed that it had paid close to R70 million in salaries to these suspended employees.
According to the information, one employee in the Department of Public Service and Administration, who has been on suspension for two years and 7 months, has already earned R4.4 million while sitting at home.
In the Free State, an official in the Department of Human Settlements on suspension for two years and eight months banked R3.6 million.
In the Eastern Cape, 20 government officials are on suspension with pay.
The Parliamentary reply also noted that there were still 3265 outstanding disciplinary cases, the oldest of which dates back to 2016 and the latest case was in June 2023.
DA MP, Dr. Mimmy Gondwe, said "This terrible state of affairs is a grave indictment on the deficient disciplinary management system in the public service".
She said while the country's labour laws guarantee the rights of all employees to fair disciplinary hearings, the failure by the public service to timeously conclude disciplinary cases is a testament to a system in need of serious reform.
"Prolonged suspensions affect service delivery as government departments are forced to shoulder the extra workload of an employee on suspension," said Dr Gondwe.
She said they are calling on the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Noxolo Kiviet, to urgently present a clear plan on how she intends to address the broken discipline management system in the public service, and "stop the prevailing culture where suspended employees continue to be paid millions for being idle."
