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THE PRESIDENCY: REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
533. Mr M G P Lekota (Cope) to ask the President of the Republic:
Whether the Government has a clear policy on disqualifying applicants
to key posts in all institutions where the Government made
appointments who allegedly (a) misrepresented their qualifications,
(b) withheld any damaging information, (c) battered or abused women,
(d) did not have their tax affairs in order and (e) exited a previous
position under a controversy; if not, why not; if so, (i) what is the
policy and (ii) how has it been applied during the period 1 January
2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is
available? NW615E
REPLY:
a) Yes, a system is in place whereby applicants can be disqualified from
employment in the Public Service. With effect from 1 January 2008,
departments have to conduct the following pre-employment verifications
in respect of a candidate before an appointment or the filling of a
post is affected:
(i) Criminal record checks
(ii) Citizenship verification
(iii) Financial/asset record checks
(iv) Qualification/Study verification
(v) Previous employment verification (Reference checks)
b) In cases where an applicant deliberately misrepresents their
qualifications or withheld damaging information, such an act can
establish acceptable grounds for the rejection of an application. All
Public Servants are required to abide by the Code of Conduct. Failure
to abide by the Code of Conduct results in disciplinary action and
possible dismissal.
A departmentâs decision to reject an application on the aforesaid
grounds must however conform to the concept of a fair administrative
action as provided for in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act,
2000.
c,d,e) Matters such as the abuse of women, problematic tax affairs and
the circumstances for leaving previous employment will be considered
during the aforesaid criminal record checks, financial/assets records
checks and the previous employment verification.
Should a verification result in a negative finding, a department has to
consider the relevance thereof to the personâs suitability for employment
in a particular post on the following basis:
(a) The nature and severity of the negative finding.
(b) The relevance of the finding to the job duties and work
environment in question.
(c) The amount of time that has passed since the negative incident
and the applicantâs subsequent behaviour since then; and
(d) The record of the applicant in respect of multiple incidents of
misbehaviour and convictions.
All applicants for posts in the public service are obliged to indicate on
the application for employment form (Z83) whether they have been
dismissed from previous employment or been convicted of a criminal
offence. This information is verified through the compulsory verification
checks undertaken by each department prior to appointment. The failure to
honestly disclose may result in disqualification.
(ii) The above prescripts are applied by each department within a
decentralized recruitment environment. Grievances or disputes arising
from the recruitment process are dealt with by the affected departments,
the Public Service Commission and through the relevant public sector
bargaining councils.