Hundreds of Eastern Cape state workers blacklisted over business interests

Hundreds of employees of the Eastern Cape health department have been issued with final warnings after failing to declare their business interests.

The businesses and the employees were discovered through an investigation and have been blacklisted as a result of not declaring their businesses to the department.

The department’s spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the Public Service Act and the code of conduct for public servants required that all employees disclose their business interests and those of close relatives.

The Eastern Cape health department said that the Provincial Treasury from time to time distributes information on officials who are registered as suppliers in the Provincial Supplier Database.

The information is extracted through the Computer-assisted Auditing Techniques (CAATS) and the sharing of information is done for the purpose of establishing if the registered suppliers‚ who are also employees of the state‚ have complied with the regulations and obtained the necessary approval.

According to National Treasury‚ who released the list of blacklisted suppliers‚ “the internal audit unit in the EC Dept of Health revealed that there were over 600 employees of the department doing business with the state without approval from relevant authorities.”

The suppliers‚ say Treasury‚ did not declare that they are employees of the state when tendering for government projects. Kupelo said that until recently employees were not required to declare their business interests to the state. The department has issued final written warnings to all the implicated employees.