Only 4 dismissals for 82 Gauteng health theft charges

2 June 2016

The Gauteng Health Department laid 82 criminal charges of theft against employees in the last five years, but only four of them were dismissed after disciplinary action.

Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu discloses this in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature, with the breakdown per year as follows:

2011 - 5 charges

2012 - 16 charges

2013 - 11 charges

2014 - 22 charges

2015 - 28 charges

Mahlangu says that the charges were all laid before the disciplinary hearings and that all the criminal cases have been finalized.

Sanctions against the employees were as follows:

- 4 dismissals; 

- 13 written warnings;

- 15 final warnings with one or two months suspended without pay; and 

- 46 final warnings.

I am concerned that 78 employees have been convicted of theft but are still working for the department.

Furthermore, the dismissed personnel are not permanently barred from re-employment in the public service as the Head of Department can unblock the PERSAL system that normally blocks other departments from hiring someone terminated for criminal activity.

This is far from a zero tolerance policy towards criminal activity in the workplace and should be revised to ensure tougher sanctions against wrongdoers.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 2 June 2016