The Department of Public Service and Administration has published regulations that will require all government departments and entities to put in place measures to prohibit employees and special advisers from “directly or indirectly” doing business with the state.
To ensure effective implementation of the regulations, government departments and entities will also have to develop and adopt policies that make it an obligation for employees to disclose any financial interest they may have in an entity that has an intention to do business with their department.
The regulations have been in the offing for some years since the Public Service Management Act was approved by Parliament and signed into law by President Jacob Zuma. The law was apparently not promulgated while the regulations were being drafted.
The regulations, published on Friday on the Department of Public Service and Administration’s website, will also prohibit any employee or special adviser “from being a director of a public or private company conducting business with the state”.
Departments and entities will also have to ensure that their supply chain management policies do not allow businesses to conduct business with an employee in the public administration. This includes doing business with a special adviser to a municipality.
They will also have to determine procedures for informing all employees of the names of entities doing business with the institution. They also require the Public Service Commission, the heads of departments and entities to keep a register of the financial interest of employees. The employees are required to make full disclosure of all financial interests.
There have been allegations that some public servants have been involved in companies that are paid millions of Rands to provide essential services to the state through proxy shareholding. This has been said to have been one of the conditions which have aided and abated the growth of the ‘tenderprenuership’ mentality in the business community.
The rules are overdue. For years some business owners have been pointing out that involvement of public servants in the adjudication of tenders created a situation of conflict of interest.
Information credits: Sourced from an article originally published in Business Day and adapted for Transform SA Online
