NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN REPLY
11 SEPTEMBER 2009
1241. Dr H C van Schalkwyk (DA) to ask the Minister for the Public Service
and Administration:
(1) Whether the Financial Disclosure Framework will be applicable to
non-designated employees in the near future; if not, why not; if
so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether any steps have been taken to charge Heads of Department
for misconduct for noncompliance by not submitting financial
disclosure forms of their senior managers to the Public Service
Commission; if not, why not; if so, what steps? NW1583E
REPLY:
(1) The Financial Disclosure Framework (FDF) was first implemented
for managers on salary level 15 and 16 in April 2000. In May
2001, the Financial Disclosure Framework was extended to all
members of the Senior Management Service as a tool to promote
transparency and accountability by identifying possible areas of
conflict of interest. As part of the implementation of the FDF,
a number of limitations with the Framework were identified,
amongst them, the failure of the FDF to recognise other
officials vulnerable to situations of conflict of interest. In
this regard, the dpsa commenced with reviewing the current FDF
to strengthen its application, monitoring and evaluation.
The review process led to revised proposals on the FDF which
calls for an extension of the FDF to include middle managers,
responsibility managers and all supply chain management
officials. This proposal includes the deployment of ethics
officers in departments to enforce and monitor the
implementation of the FDF. The Revised FDF also proposes the
establishment of ethics committees in departments to oversee the
application of and compliance with the FDF.
(2) Since the extension of the Financial Disclosure Framework to
members of Senior Management, a 100% compliance with the FDF for
both national and provincial departments has not been received
according to the report on managing conflict of interest through
the financial disclosures issued by the Public Service
Commission in 2007. In order to address non-compliance, the
dpsa has issued letters to Heads of Department requesting them
to (i) ensure that financial disclosure forms are submitted on
time to the Public Service Commission, (ii) explain reason/s for
non-compliance and (iii) provide steps that will be implemented
to ensure compliance with the FDF and to discipline
transgressors.
To date, no steps have been taken to charge Heads of Department
with misconduct for non compliance by not submitting financial
disclosure forms of senior managers to the Public Service
Commission. Chapter 3, Section H of the Public Service
Regulations stipulates that any designated official who fails to
disclose his/her financial interests, or willfully provides
incorrect or misleading details, is guilty of misconduct.
Therefore, Heads of Department as part of their responsibilities
should charge employees with misconduct for failing to disclose
their interest. In the case of Heads of Department not
submitting own or their departmentâs financial disclosure forms,
the Executive Authority must take the necessary action against
the Head of the Department.