(1) Yes. There are currently 306 Ethics Officers either appointed or designated in the public service.
(b) Appointments are made in terms of the prescribed public service procedure, with regard to designation, existing employees in their respective departments are assigned a new or additional functions in line with the responsibilities attached to the post of an ethics officer.
(c) (i) Departments follow an open recruitment process to identify and appoint appropriate officials. The grade of the post is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework.
(ii) All employees, prior to appointment to the public service, are subject to a background checks, which include credit and criminal record, verification of qualification, disciplinary record, etc.
The DPSA has initiated a process of amending the Public Service Regulations, 2001. One of the objectives is to formalize and standardize the designation and / or appointment of Ethics Officers and provide for more functions relating to the management and promotion of ethics in the public service. This process will be finalised early in 2016.
(iii) The Department of Public Service and Administration together with the National School of Government have development a set of new ethics courses. These courses were finalised and are being rolled-out. These courses include the following:
Furthermore, all designated Ethics Officers have been trained on the Financial Disclosure Framework and the use of the e-Disclosure system.
(2) (a) Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework. The following functions are performed by ethics officers:-
(d) The job grade is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Where Ethics Officers are appointed (and not designated), whether in the national or provincial department, the size, risk profile, budget, qualification requirement, etc of the post will determine the job grade.
(d) Ethics officers are generally appointed under programme 1 (administration), and report to the head of Corporate Services or the Director’s-General head of office. However, going forward, ethics officers will report to the Head of the Department (HoD) in terms of the proposed Public Service Regulations.