South Africa: Six Dismissed in KZN for Alleged Fraud, Corruption

Pretoria - Six government employees have been dismissed by the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department following an internal investigation into fraud and corruption.

MEC for Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said that as part of the department's turnaround strategy, a number of initiatives have been introduced by the Joint Management Team, including cases of alleged fraud and corruption, which are at the forefront.

"A total of 27 cases have been investigated, these with serious financial prejudice to the department and as a result, there were six dismissals, two resignations, one case withdrawn, three final written warning and 15 pending cases to date," Dhlomo said.

Dhlomo, who presented a progress report on department's key initiatives to the provincial legislature on Thursday, said the abuse of certain conditions of service was a disturbing trend in the public service citing the abuse associated with remunerative work outside the place of employment being the most challenging type of abuse.

"Specialist doctors run private practices whilst holding down a full time jobs with the department, nurses engage in 'moonlighting' activities inclusive of registering with employment agencies and then provide services during off periods and during leave/sick leave.

"Other professional and non-professional personnel have business interests outside which they do not disclose and conduct business with the department and other departments within government," he said.

He said this pointed to a need to review the policy on Remunerative Work Outside the Public Service with a view to strengthening the internal control environment and curb such activities.

He warned that the draft policy is near completion and once implemented the situation will be more aggressively monitored.

"Few cases of such misconduct have been reported to the department and investigations are underway," said Dhlomo.

Original date published: 30 July 2010

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