Nearly 300 government employees across all departments are currently on suspension, Public Service and Administration Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A total of 295 civil servants had been on paid suspension for 60 days or more, with a total salary bill of just over R33 million, Ramatlhodi told the National Council of Provinces.<\/p>\n
He was answering a question from Democratic Alliance MP Jacques Julius.<\/p>\n
The NCOP was debating the backlog in disciplinary proceedings in government. In a supplementary question, Julius asked Ramatlhodi what the department was doing to reduce “this phenomenon” in the public service.<\/p>\n
“We are deeply concerned to finalise many of the unresolved cases. We are collaborating with Treasury and this is one area where we are intervening,” Ramatlhodi replied.<\/p>\n
He said he would make the statistics publicly available.<\/p>\n
Slow process, backlog<\/strong><\/p>\n Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mntomuhle Khawula suggested the slow process was a big contributor to the mounting backlog.<\/p>\n He pointed out that former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli had been suspended for almost six years.<\/p>\n Khawula asked if the department would consider speeding up disciplinary processes.<\/p>\n Ramatlhodi said the department was not against the idea in principle, but training was needed.<\/p>\n “We do give training to our civil servants if there are deficiencies. We are in the process of asking the retired judge’s forum to help out, as a national duty.<\/p>\n “We are worried of standing cases that are not resolved, and we are focusing on areas that are underperforming,” he said.<\/p>\n According to StatsSA<\/a>, South Africa had close to 2.1 million government employees as at June 2014.<\/p>\n News24<\/a><\/p>\n Biggest wasteful spenders in SA government<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on government<\/h3>\n