Cabinet has received a progress report on lifestyle audits of senior management service members.

This was revealed by Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, during a post Cabinet media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday.

‘At the end of January 2023, [a total of] 24 national and 71 provincial departments reported concluding lifestyle audits. With further interventions, the number of compliant departments increased at the end of March 2023 to 36 national government departments and 89 provincial departments,’ she said on Thursday.

The Minister described the progress as a significant part of measures to address corruption within the public service and its professionalisation.

Disciplinary case backlog

Meanwhile, she said the Executive was now in possession of a progress report on the interventions undertaken to address the disciplinary case backlog in the public sector.

‘The project targeted to resolve the 117 pending cases at the national level and the 104 pending cases at the provincial level. Th
is is significant in reducing government’s personnel expenditure on employees who are on suspension whilst undergoing disciplinary procedures,’ she explained.

To date, Ntshavheni said 250 cases were intervened in at the national level and of these, 133 suspensions were lifted.

Meanwhile, at provincial departments, 172 cases were intervened and 68 cases were resolved.

‘Cabinet directed the Department of Public Service and Administration to ensure the strengthening of case management process across government,’ Ntshavheni said.

The Executive also received a progress report on the establishment of a Central Register for Discipline across the three spheres of government.

‘The establishment of a Central Register for Discipline across the three spheres of government is one of the actions contained in the response by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the Recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud as submitted to Parliament on 22 October 2022,’ th
e Minister explained.

Meanwhile, she said Cabinet noted progress on the work done for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 January 2024.

‘The alpha version of the Central Register has been developed and tested on an existing web-based application. The process to finalise is underway,’ she announced.

Source: South African Government News Agency