News24 reports that the SA government has spent nearly R51 million on paying thousands of civil servants who were sitting at home, either on suspension or sick leave.
This has prompted the Department of Public Service & Administration to initiate an investigation in partnership with the Public Service Commission to establish the reported trends on sick leave use and possible abuse in the public service. The investigation will probe the extent of long-term sick leave usage in the public service over the past five to 10 years, where the involved individuals were located and whether sick leave in general, and policy and procedure on incapacity leave and ill-health retirements (PILIR) were being correctly applied. The investigation was sparked by the case of Eastern Cape legislature senior financial manager Kumara Gazo, who was apparently left paralysed from the neck down after claiming that her lover drove over her. She has been on sick leave since April 2017, but has continued earning a salary of more than R1.5 million a year. Gazo claims to have since returned to work, but remotely. Kiviet explained that the current position of government was that employees who were afflicted by illness were allowed a fair opportunity to recover from such illness, on the understanding that they would continue to be productive once they had fully recovered. She said the granting of long incapacity leave followed a strict procedure which included an investigation and assessment by an independent health risk manager.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at City Press (subscriber access only)
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