A staggering R800m of taxpayers’ money is spent each year on salaries for hundreds of suspended public servants at national and provincial level — many of whom have been suspended for years.
The Sunday Times can reveal that in one case, a deputy director in the department of women, youth & people with disabilities, who was suspended in 2018 and subsequently found guilty of financial misconduct, has received more than R5m despite his position having been filled by someone else.
The department says it is “in the process of completing his transfer” to another division while the case, now in the labour court, is finalised. Spokesperson Cassius Selala said the official was no longer suspended, but being “transferred to a different unit that does not deal with supply chain management as a precautionary measure”. He declined to give further details.
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