BL Premium reports that the Public Service Commission (PSC) is concerned about the management of discipline in government.

It has been working with the Department of Public Service & Administration (DPSA) to develop strategies to deal with the problem, which has seen instances of public servants on suspension with full pay for as long as four years. Public servants are suspended while an internal investigation or disciplinary process is under way. In reply to a question in parliament earlier this year, acting DPSA minister Thulas Nxesi said that at end-June there were 305 public servants on suspension with full pay at a cost to the taxpayer of R131m. Long periods of suspension are often the result of legal action involved in the disciplinary process. The DA wrote to the PSC to request that it intervene in the “glaring discipline management crisis in the public service”. Last week, PSC chair Somadoda Fikeni indicated that the PSC had been engaging with the DPSA on discipline management problems in the public service and exploring mechanisms to deal with it. He said the PSC would host a round-table in 2023 to get inputs from stakeholders on strategies to improve and strengthen it. “A key reform area would be to ensure that disciplinary cases are concluded within the prescribed time frames to avoid a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Gondwe indicated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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