Senior officials who refused to be vetted will be fired, says Makhura

Gauteng premier David Makhura said the 84 senior officials in management positions who refused to be vetted will face the chop.

He made the remarks on Tuesday while delivering the province’s state of integrity and anti-corruption report.

The report shows that as of March, there were 757 members of the senior management service (SMS) in the province, out of whom 668 had been vetted or are being vetted. This is 88% compliance on vetting managers in government. 

“Of serious concern is that 84 SMS members were dragging their feet on compliance with vetting, thus raising suspicions about possible wrongdoing.”     

Five applications for security clearance were declined. Makhura said he met MECs last week to deliberate on the issue of officials refusing to comply.

“They [MECs] are going to remove all officials who are refusing to be vetted. They will be removed from [the] supply chain,” he said.

Makhura flagged the departments of health and education, which take up more than R100bn of the total provincial budget, as the most problematic. Of the 84 SMS members, 34 come from the health department, 16 from education and eight from human settlements.  

“It is important to underscore that accounting officers and executive authorities must ensure full compliance with vetting requirement for SMS members in their departments.”  

Makhura said the non-complying members should be the first to undergo lifestyle audits.

“The 11% of SMS officials who are not complying should be red-flagged and be the first to undergo lifestyle audits.”

Two years ago, the health department was embroiled in a R2bn personal protective equipment (PPE) scandal which led to former health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku being axed and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, being removed from her position.

“If I were to summarise where our system is vulnerable, it seems the bigger the number of public servants you have, and the bigger the budget, the more vulnerable your system is.”

Makhura said there had been a growing phenomenon within several departments where officials refused to be appointed to senior management positions, allegedly because they do not want to be vetted.

“They stay below because they know when you get to SMS you must declare. They don’t want to be directors but they are the movers and shakers of every tender. They are killing it.”  

A breakdown per department for the vetting of the supply chain management (SCM) officials shows there are 569 SCM officials (86%) who have subjected themselves to the vetting process, 195 of whom are awaiting their results and 79 who are yet to submit their application forms and supporting documentation.  

The department of health has the highest risk of non-compliance. It is followed by the department of social development and provincial treasury.  

Makhura announced lifestyle audits of the members of the executive council had been concluded and would be released in due course.  

“The lifestyle audits for all public servants will complement and close any loopholes of the current vetting process, which often leaves out officials who are not members of the senior management service.”

Responding to a question on how alleged perpetrators of corruption infiltrated the system, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, Makhura said they took advantage of the emergency procurement system.

“Emergency procurement must never be allowed because that’s what was used to sidestep processes, so we are going to strengthen the open tender system.”

The report is split into sections:

• strengthening prevention;
• effective detection, co-ordination and collaboration;
• investigation and resolution; and
• consequence management.  

Dr Terence Nombembe, former auditor-general and chair of the council, said most corruption cases detailed in the report had been “monumentally complex” and an indication that winning the fight against corruption would not be easy.   

The report also shines the spotlight on whistleblowers. It states the provincial forensics audit unit has been relocated to Makhura’s office to give it greater authority and to enhance co-ordination of investigations and consequence management of corruption-related matters. The unit analyses all cases of alleged corruption which implicate officials and refers them to the Special Investigating Unit or commissions private forensic companies for forensic investigation.

“Our biggest concern is that urgent measures need to be put in place by government to ensure the protection of whistleblowers. The killing and intimidation of whistleblowers is undermining the fight against corruption,” says the report. 

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