Senior public servant earning more than R 1 million per annum moonlights as municipal councillor
12 December 2022
Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Dr Mimmy Gondwe MP.
Following a revelation by the DA in September this year that nearly 300 public servants, across the public service, are moonlighting as municipal councillors, the DA can further reveal that a senior public servant earning over R 1 million per annum, at salary level 13, is one of these public servants.
This information was revealed in a written reply, by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), to DA Parliamentary questions on, among other things, the positions and salary levels of the implicated public servants and whether disciplinary steps will be taken, by the affected departments, against those public servants who did not obtain the requisite written permission from the relevant Executive Authority (EA) when assuming the position of municipal councillor.
The written reply, also revealed that soon after the DA made the revelation in September, the DPSA wrote letters to the affected departments requesting they indicate the public servants in their employ which are moonlighting as municipal councillors by 14 October 2022. However, by the due date, out of the more than 80 affected departments, a total of only three departments (one national department and two provincial departments) had provided this information.
Further according to the written reply, the DPSA has shared all the relevant information, on the implicated public servants, with the Accounting Officers of the affected departments so that disciplinary action can be instituted against those public servants who did not obtain the requisite written permission.
Although the DPSA has undertaken to monitor the situation and report on it, it remains to be seen if more affected departments will provide the requested information after the DPSA extended the deadline for providing the information to 14 December 2022.
It also remains to be seen how many of the affected departments will institute disciplinary action against those public servants who did not obtain the requisite written permission as well as take legal steps to recover the remuneration they received as municipal councillors.
The DA calls on the DPSA to continue monitoring the situation closely and also ensure the affected departments not only take disciplinary action against those public servants who did not obtain the requisite written permission but also take legal steps to recover the remuneration they received as municipal councillors.
Issued by Mimmy Gondwe, DA Shadow Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, 12 December 2022
