19 July 2005

The government is progressively toughening its stance on corruption.

Releasing a detailed report on corruption and misconduct in Pretoria on Monday, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said her department had enhanced its anti-corruption system, tightened its disciplinary procedures, introduced a whistle-blowing policy - and started cracking down on corrupt officials.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the department had dismissed close to a hundred officials over the past year for committing serious acts of crime in the department - and issued 54 written warnings, 40 final written warnings and 34 verbal warnings between April 2004 and June 2005.

Home Affairs Director-General Jeff Maqethuka emphasised that Home Affairs was not generally corrupt, but that "pockets of corruption" had been uncovered - and were now being flushed out. He added that society was also to blame for enticing officials with bribes.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the acts involved related to fraud, misappropriating funds, aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, illegally issuing documents, selling fraudulent documents, stealing documents, absconding, assault and soliciting bribes.

She said her department had finalised a counter-corruption and fraud prevention plan to encourage a culture of ethics among employees and members of the public - and called on South Africans to report incidents of corruption to the national anti-corruption hotline - 0800 701 701.

Home Affairs was also working with the police, she said, to ensure that once corrupt officials had been dealt with through departmental procedures, they were handed over to the criminal justice system.

She said that a "high-level strategic partnership" with the police had already resulted in the arrest of 80 officials, 11 immigrants and eight members of the public for corruption.

"We are continuing to conduct an analysis on the levels of corruption and trends to understand this phenomenon and how it manifests itself in the department," Mapisa-Nqakula said.

Source: BuaNews

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