Sisulu calls for ban on civil servants in private business

17 February 2013 - 11:50 By Sapa
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Lindiwe Sisulu. File photo.
Lindiwe Sisulu. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images

Minister of Public Works Lindiwe Sisulu has proposed that civil servants be banned from conducting business with the state.

Sisulu said it was time public servants chose between serving the state and being in private business, the Sunday Times reported.

"I think that if we cut that umbilical cord, we might succeed in making sure that we are creating a cadre of the public service who is concerned [with] and only concentrating on the job, and not doing the job but at the same time benefiting from the state," she was quoted as saying.

Sisulu was working on amending the Public Service Act to make this a law.

She has also called for those found guilty of fraud, corruption or financial mismanagement to be blacklisted and barred from working for any government department.

These were her latest attempts at getting rid of the misuse of public funds by government employees.

Sisulu told the paper that she intends to set up an office of standards compliance in her department that would be headed by a "super-director-general".

The general's role would be to ensure that director-generals and provincial heads of department deliver on their duties, said the paper.

Sisulu said the cabinet was now screening all senior appointments and those found guilty of transgressions would be fired, reported the Sunday Times.

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