Cape Town:  A special anticorruption unit, reporting directly to Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi, would be established to deepen the state's fight against the "cancer" of graft, the minister said yesterday.  The new unit will represent a proactive, "hands-on" stance by the department, normally seen as simply the policy arm of state administration. It will work with other agencies, such as the Special Investigation Unit, that investigate corruption.

Baloyi said the unit would trace acts of corruption and make sure something was done about it, and take preventive measures such as strengthening supply chain management through the use of information technology.  The identity of those involved in government tenders would be checked against various databases and businesses found to be involved in corruption could be blacklisted.

Baloyi said in an interview after a briefing on the governance and administration cluster that the unit would also be involved in developing capacity in departments to fight corruption. An audit of capacity of 36 national departments and 108 provincial departments would be finalised by the month-end.

The department also planned to launch a code of good practice for public servants in June for discussion. This could lead to a ban on government employees having outside business interests if this emerged as the consensus demand. Strong measures against state employees moonlighting for private companies could be expected.  Baloyi conceded that disclosure and declaration requirements now were far from adequate.

He said people often "hid behind" disclosures, and that new ways had to be found to manage the system better or change it altogether.  Baloyi dismissed the suggestion that the government was collapsing under the weight of corruption, but warned that it would if this "cancer" was not removed.  "We will accelerate our efforts and leave no stone unturned. There will be no holy cows."

Baloyi also conceded that disciplinary procedures and the suspension of officials on full pay sometimes took longer than desirable.   His department planned to establish a disciplinary unit to assist departments with tough cases. The idea would be explored with departments in the next fiscal year.  The unit would rope in experts to help departments, many of which were struggling to get through the backlog of disciplinary procedures against officials.

Disciplinary procedures would have to be geared to getting people out of the system faster and more efficiently. "We are saying that within a month - of course, determined by the severity of the offence - we want to see movement."

Baloyi was also confident that the public sector, which is highly unionised, would not be hostile to state efforts to drive a clean-up. The matter was negotiated with labour unions, and consultations were continuing. However, some of the mooted changes could suggest a change in the labour legislation regime.  "Having a highly unionised environment is not hostile to building a credible public service. The managers need to understand the role of unions, and unions in turn need to come to the table on helping the state to deliver on its transformation agenda," Baloyi said.

Mannie de Clerq, deputy GM of the Public Service Association, yesterday welcomed "any efforts" by the minister to fast-track disciplinary procedures.

Baloyi said he expected a draft bill in Parliament before the end of the calendar year on the introduction of a single public service.