Senior managers of the State Security Agency (SSA), which was castigated at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, are resisting their obligation to declare their personal financial interests.
The Public Service Commission (PSC), which aims to promote good and ethical governance in the public service, has attempted to obtain these declarations, but SSA officials said they did not have to make disclosures of their personal financial interests because doing so might compromise national security.
This refusal to comply persisted despite inspector-general of intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe agreeing that they were required to make the disclosure, PSC commissioner Mike Seloane told a meeting of parliament’s public service & administration portfolio committee on Wednesday.
Seloane said that it was now up to parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence & security to take the matter up with state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo.
Evidence was presented to the commission of inquiry into state capture, led by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, that SSA money was used to fund factional political activities within the ANC, as well as to provide then president Jacob Zuma with cash and to run illegal operations. Evidence was also led that the SSA funded a media organisation and had a project with the aim to bribe judges to favour Zuma.
The committee was given an update on the progress made in the disclosures of financial interests by senior managers in the public service. And whether state employees are doing business with the state, which is a criminal offence.
Deputy minister of public service & administration Sindisiwe Chikunga noted that there had been a decrease in the number of cases of employees doing business with the state since the conduct was criminalised in 2016.
The department’s chief director of its ethics, integrity and disciplinary technical assistance unit, Salomon Hoogenraad-Vermaak, told MPs that using data from the Treasury’s central supplier database — which departments have to use for their procurement — a list of 1,559 public servants who were “possibly” conducting business with the state was drawn up and given to the SA Police Service (SAPS) to investigate.
Of the 579 individuals identified by SAPS to be conducting business with the state in September last year, national departments were responsible for 157, KwaZulu-Natal 137, the Eastern Cape 43 and Gauteng 42. The department then whittled down the 579 cases to 484 in January.
A total of 83 of these cases have been investigated by national departments and 94 cases by the provinces.
In October 2020, the SAPS identified 78 of its own employees who were conducting business with the state, with 49 of them being active directors of companies registered on the central supplier database. Disciplinary processes were at different stages, with seven criminal cases and one criminal inquiry registered against SAPS members.
MPs were concerned about the lack of consequences, as Hoogenraad-Vermaak reported that only one national department employee had been disciplined and found guilty. Four were found not guilty. Two cases in national departments and one case in a provincial department had been referred for disciplinary hearing and criminal charges had been laid against two employees, one from SAPS and one provincial employee.
PSC deputy director-general Matome Malatsi noted a slight improvement in compliance by senior managers with the requirement to submit financial disclosure forms that enables the department and the commission to manage conflicts of interests.
By May 31 2020 a total of 9,792 (98%) of the 10,032 expected financial disclosure forms had been submitted by senior managers, a one percentage point increase over the previous year. The SSA was responsible for the outstanding 2%.
Though they made financial disclosures, 638 (21%) of the senior managers did not disclose that they had interests in companies in contravention of public service regulations. Of these, 69 (11%) were repeat offenders.
Hundreds of senior managers also did not disclose their ownership of immovable properties (4%) and motor vehicles (8%).
Eleven cases of conflicts of interest — including some heads of department — where the senior manager was conducting business with the state were recorded during the 2019/2020 financial year.
MPs were concerned that there were low numbers of disciplinary cases and criminal charges laid against government employees and also called for harsher sanctions against repeat offenders. Seloane agreed that regulations had to be tightened for repeat offenders, perhaps involving suspension or even dismissal.
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