Category: General

LEBOWAKGOMO – Police seek public assistance to establish the whereabouts of a 41-year-old missing man, Tshepo Walter Lesetja from Ga-Mphahlele Mamaolo village outside Lebowakgomo.

Tshepo allegedly informed his relatives in Tembisa location, Gauteng province that he is going to get transport from Tembisa Plaza to his home in Ga-Mphahlele, but never reached Limpopo province and he cannot be located back in Tembisa.

He had been missing since 2013 and it is unclear what he was wearing during his disappearance and there’s no information about his whereabouts either in Gauteng or Limpopo province.

Enquiries were made at his friends and relatives but he cannot be located.

Anyone with information that can assist should contact the Investigating Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nyamanyawo Thomas Baloyi on 0825658234 or Crime stop number 0860010111 or the nearest Police station or MySAPSApp.

Police search operations and investigations are continuing.

Source: South African Police Service

PATERSON – SAPS efforts and endeavours to remove illicit drugs from our streets yielded positive results when a 52-year-old female and 24-year-old male were arrested for being in possession of a large amount of mandrax and tik.

On Friday 10 September, Paterson Vispol Support members, Crime Prevention Unit and Detectives had a joint operation when they received information about drugs that had been delivered to a house in Paterson. The members immediately reacted to this information.

The members decided to do foot patrol to this address on Paterson. On arrival at the residence they found a male and female inside. Upon searching the house, members found six (6) packets of tik, one (1) bompie packet containing tik, one hundred and ninety five (195) mandrax tablets and a bompie containing dagga. Estimated Street Value of R10 900-00.

The suspects were immediately arrested for possession of mandrax, possession of tik and possession of dagga.

The suspects are due to appear before Paterson Magistrate Court soon.

Paterson Station Commander, Captain B Prince thanked the members for their positive attitude they had shown and for the successful arrest and recovery.

Source: South African Police Service

WESTERN CAPE – The endeavours of the Cape Town Flying Squad to create a safer environment for the people of this province resulted in the arrest of four armed suspects yesterday morning. The members responded to a radio broadcast that a vehicle had been hijacked in Khayelitsha and covered the exit routes. The vehicle was spotted on the N2 and pulled over in Belhar where the suspects aged between 31 and 34 were arrested in possession of a 9mm pistol without a serial number. The suspects are expected to make their court appearance in Blue Downs on Monday for the possession of a prohibited firearm and the possession of a hijacked vehicle.

In an unrelated police intervention, members of the Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit in Malmesbury arrested a 26-year-old suspect in Nuwerus yesterday in possession of a large quantity of the protected flora Conophytum Acutum valued a substantial amount. Two suspects were spotted by members of Afriforum harvesting the plants on a private farm in the area and alerted SAPS. One of the suspects managed to evade arrest and is being sought. The arrested suspect is scheduled to make his court appearance on Monday.

Source: South African Police Service

LEBOWAKGOMO – The South African Police Service in Lebowakgomo outside Polokwane need assistance from members of the community to find a 44-year-old man, Oupa Makou Powana who went missing on Friday 10 September 2021 at about 20:00.

The victim is originally from Ga-Sekororo village outside Tzaneen and is a construction employee temporarily renting a room at Mamaolo village in Ga-Mphahlele.

Oupa allegedly informed his employer that he is going home for the weekend and later on this morning, his wife received a phone call from a Tracker Company enquiring about his Toyota Hilux bakkie because they attempted to contact him but both his cellphones are on voicemail.

She was further notified that the signal of the vehicle was spotted in Mpumalanga heading to Gauteng province where it suddenly went off until now. Attempts to locate the victim at friends and relatives did not bear any fruits.

Unfortunately, the type of clothes he was wearing during his disappearance are unknown.

Anyone with information that can assist to find the missing man should contact the Investigating Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nyamanyawo Thomas Baloyi on 0825658234 or Crime Stop number 0860010111 or the nearest Police station or MySAPSApp.

Source: South African Police Service

Public Service Commissioner Michael Seloane says that corruption still remains “widespread” in the public service.

He was speaking at the release of the commission’s Quarterly Bulletin titled: The Pulse of the Public Service for the first quarter of the financial year.

The commissioner said one of the biggest challenges breeding a culture of corruption in the public service is employees who conduct business with the state.

“South Africa continues to face the challenge of widespread corruption within its public service. Corruption scandals are precipitated by shady, widespread public sector patronage, crony capitalism, abuse of power and abuse of authority, corruption and unprofessional behaviour in government. [P]ublic servants who conduct business with the state…in many instances, service delivery is affected negatively because companies that are appointed to render services are not given on the basis of merit but are given to people that have close proximity to power,” he said.

Seloane said while collecting data for the quarterly bulletin, the commission found that employees who were alleged to have been involved in irregularities or corrupt activities complained that they were pressured to do so through instructions from senior managers and executive authorities.

“Employees are often too afraid to defy unlawful instructions and, in many cases, bear the brunt of unlawful conduct while the executive authorities and senior managers who issued the unlawful instructions claim ignorance and/or go scot free,” he said.

The commissioner warned, however, that lower ranking public servants still have the responsibility to report any wrongdoing to law enforcement authorities.

“There are several Acts and Laws applicable in the public service which place a duty on an employee to abide by the legislative framework and to report irregularities to a higher authority. Public servants are urged to ensure that irregularities and unlawful instructions are reported to the relevant authorities as required by the legislative framework,” Seloane said.

He highlighted the importance of ethical leadership in government.

“It is imperative to ensure that all instructions to public servants are within the parameters of the law. Through ethical leadership, we will be able to influence a positive culture change and improve the image of the government. Leaders need to demonstrate ethical leadership by making ethical decisions and taking disciplinary actions,” he said.

Non-payment of supplier invoices

Seloane urged the national Treasury to take action against national and provincial departments that repeatedly do not pay their suppliers within the stipulated time frame as this has a detrimental effect on businesses.

National departments accounted for 481 unpaid invoices with a cost of at least R491 million.

“The PSC is concerned with the lack of reporting on the consequences management approach adopted by the National Treasury to deal with the repeat default in departments and provinces. The reality…is that the non-payment of suppliers…negatively impacts the operations of suppliers, with many becoming bankrupt, and thus being counterproductive to government’s job creation problem,” he said.

The commissioner said these invoices were mainly from the departments of Public Works and Infrastructure and its property management entity, Water and Sanitation, Mineral Resources and Energy and Home Affairs.

“Of concern…is that some departments are still not submitting the required exception reports to the national treasury. Despite this being a compliance requirement, non-submission of these reports violates paragraph 4.6 of national treasury instruction note…which stipulates that such information should be submitted within seven days. This shows a serious disregard for accountability in the departments in these departments [and] no measures are in place to deal with this disregard of accountability by departments,” he said.

Provincially, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape and Free State led the way in non-payment.

“Whilst the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng and North West are known repeat defaulting provinces, the Northern Cape is for the first time showing such a high number of invoices not paid…with the related cost of R 195 109 935,” he said.

The PSC said that it has recommended that compliance oversight for payment of suppliers be included in the performance contracts of ministers and MECs.

Source: South African Government News Agency

At least 337 cases of alleged corruption in government departments have been reported to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) in the period between April and the end of June this year.

This is according to a report released by the Public Service Commission (PSC) on Thursday.

The report noted that 133 of the 337 complaints called into the NACH related to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) R350 Social Relief of Distress grant.

“According to SASSA, all the cases referred to the institution were closed after conducting the process of appeal. In this respect, some cases were approved and others were rejected with valid reasons. Cases of appointment and procurement irregularities were investigated by the PSC,” the report said.

Other cases related to issues such as procurement irregularities, corruption, fraud and bribery.

According to the report, in the same period last year, only 233 complaints had been recorded, indicating an increase of at least 104 cases.

“This may be due to increased awareness of legislation relating to the protection of whistle blowers, such as the Protected Disclosures Act, thus instilling confidence in the process and outcomes of blowing the whistle. This may also be due to the fact that whistle blowing is no longer viewed as a negative act, as it was under the previous dispensation, thus removing some of the stigma that is often associated with whistle blowing,” the report said.

The bulk of complaints (243) were related to national departments and public entities (including SASSA), with the rest related to provincial departments.

“The PSC noted from the feedback provided by departments on concluded investigation that the number of the complaints investigated… were unsubstantiated. To this end, the PSC encourages members of the public and whistle blowers to provide full, detailed information to enable investigators to make informed conclusions.

“All complaints, as long as there is substance in them, should be investigated, irrespective of how minor is the corruption allegation,” the report said.

Moreover, the report highlighted that inefficient investigations by government departments were causing undue prejudice to whistle blowers.

“The PSC is concerned that departments are taking an extended period of time in providing feedback, despite the fact that whistle blowers are requesting feedback on progress made with investigations.

“Generally, many investigations are prolonged due to variety of factors like complexity and retrieval of supporting information. The efficiency with which the departments investigate allegations of corrupt activities reported to them contribute towards the effectiveness of the NACH,” it said.

Source: South African Government News Agency