WeeklySA_AdminNEW BROOM: Dept commits to clean governance…
By Monk Nkomo
SIX officials of the national department of health implicated in the Digital Vibes scandal were served with suspension notices on Thursday night pending the completion of disciplinary processes, according to the Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla.
He said his department had noted the serious allegations against a number of senior officials of the department especially those made against Dr. Anban Pillay who was Acting Director -General responsible for Health Regulations and Compliance during the awarding of the NHI media campaign contract to Digital Vibes . The contract was declared void by the Special Investigations Unit who found that certain officials had acted illegally in awarding the contract to Digital Vibes. Phaahla said three of the nine officials implicated were employed by other government departments and their Directors-General had already been informed of the department of health’s disciplinary process as part of consequence management.
In a statement, the Minister said the SIU findings would guide his department in looking into the alleged conduct of officials named in the report and assessing what disciplinary, corrective and preventive interventions ware required. ‘’ We would like South Africans to have confidence in the public health system and in the integrity of the hundreds of thousands of officials in our department and the broader system’’, said Phaahla.
The SIU report, he added, showed that indeed whistle-blowing was one of the effective mechanisms in the fight against fraud and corrupt activities and it played a role in encouraging accountability, transparency and high standards of governance in both the private sector and public institutions.
‘’ We are committed to clean governance and despite how uncomfortable the report may appear, it will help us tighten controls and ethical practice. We take seriously the evidence gathered by the SIU’’, said Phaahla.
The department will address matters of integrity and of consequence management concurrently and would make their decisions known as they go along.’’ We will do so within the framework of the law, the public service code of ethics and code on disciplinary action and within the context of natural justice.
Phaahla added : ‘’ We would like to tender our unreserved apology to all South Africans for this unfortunate saga and we would like assure the public that we are going to thoroughly and decisively act to ensure nothing is swept under the carpet.’’
Meanwhile, the Government Communication Information System (GCIS) has confirmed that one of their staffers had been fingered by the SIU and that a process had been set in motion to deal with the SIU findings.’’ The process will determine which cause of action will be taken against the official concerned.’’
