Scopa gets teeth to charge officials

The walls are closing in on corrupt public officials as legislators crack down on errant behaviour by government employees.

Minister of Public Service and Administration Ngoako Ramatlhodi recently announced that public officials would be barred from doing business with the state. And the commissioner of the Public Service Commission in Gauteng, Mike Selloane, last week revealed that such officials would face arrest from February next year if they did so.

Now public accounts committees can lay criminal charges against officials found to have acted contrary to the Public Finance Management Act.

Public accounts committees ensure that public sector institutions account for failure to remain within their budgets, spend according to the purposes determined by the government, legislatures and parliament and are held accountable if they do not comply with the relevant laws and regulations.

Currently, the practice is to identify problem behaviour in departments through oversight and recommending appropriate action to the legislature or parliament.

But the Association of Public Accounts Committees resolution allows public accounts committees to directly lay criminal charges against officials for unlawful conduct.

Mbongeni Radebe, chairman of Scopa in Gauteng and general secretary of Apac, said: "This is part of the options now open to us that are meant to ensure that law enforcement takes place."

The stringent regulations will also stop in their tracks officials who try to dodge possible charges by resigning from one department to join another. A new system will alert departments of charges faced by officials seeking transfers.