â[NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 1593
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 9 October 2009
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 20 OF 2009
Mrs J F Terblanche (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
(1) Whether her department developed and adopted a policy providing
guidelines for the appointment of persons with a criminal record; if
so, (a) when was the policy (i) developed and (ii) adopted and (b)
where can a copy of the policy be obtained; if not,
(2) whether her department has any plans in place to develop and adopt
such a policy; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether her department does any pre-employment screening of potential
employees for criminal records; if not, why not; if so, what are the
relevant details;
4) whether any employees with criminal records are currently employed by
her department; if so, (a) how many and (b) what is their (i) job
level and (ii) occupational category?
NW1999E
REPLY
(1) No.
(2) Yes. The Department is in the process of developing such
policy.
(3) Yes. Criminal records, reference checks, Citizenship checks, and
qualification verification are done.
(4)(a) Yes. The Department, currently, employs a total of
thirteen (13) persons with criminal records. In most cases, the
officials were employed before the implementation of the vetting
system, while others have committed crimes that are not regarded
as security risks. In some instances, the crimes were committed
more than 20 years, ago, with no recurring incidents.
It should be noted that the existence of a criminal record can,
but need not be, sufficient grounds to deny a security
clearance. Should an officialâs security clearance be revoked,
as a result, of an update, or a review, they will be dealt with,
in terms of the Vetting Policy.
(4)(b) - 1 Director on salary level 13
- 1 Deputy Director on salary level 12
- 2 Assistant Directors on salary level 10
- 1 Senior Administrative Officer on salary level 8
- 3 Chief Administration Clerks on salary level 7
- 1 Senior Administration Clerk on salary level 6
- 4 Contract Workers on salary level 3