The mandate and direction for ethics management in the public service is derived from the following legislation:
Section 3(1)(h) sets out that the Minister (of the DPSA) “is responsible for establishing norms and standards relating to…integrity, ethics, conduct and anti-corruption in the public service.”
The Minister gives effect to this through:
Public Administration Management Act, 2014
- Section 4 – Basic values and principles governing public administration
- Section 8 – Conducting business with the state
- Section 9 – Disclosure of financial interest
- Section 15 – Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit
Public Service Regulations, 2016 (Chapter 2 as amended by Public Service Regulations, 2023)
- Part 1 – Code of Conduct
- Part 2 – Financial disclosure
- Part 3 – Anti-corruption and ethics management
These laws are fundamental to the work of the ethics officer and you MUST read it all. This will help you understand what you need to do. Please download the legislation by clicking on the links above.
While you should read everything, the following extracts will help you understand the basic requirements for ethics management in the public service.
The Public Administration Management Act of 2014, section 4, aims to promote the values and principles concerning public administration. This section largely repeats section 195 of the Constitution.
Extract from the Public Administration Management Act, 2014, section 4
Each institution must —
- promote and maintain a high standard of professional ethics;
- promote efficient, economic and effective use of resources;
- be development oriented;
- provide such services impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias;
- respond to people’s needs and encourage public participation in policy-making;
- be accountable to the public;
- foster transparency by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information;
- ensure good human resource management and career development practices to maximise human potential; and
- ensure broad representation of the South African people, with employment and personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness, and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation.
The ethics officer bears the responsibility of being the face of ethics and the main point of contact regarding ethics-related matters. The Public Service Regulations, 2016 outline certain activities that the ethics officer must undertake, frequently on behalf of the Head of Department:
Public Service Regulations – Part 3 – Anti-corruption and ethics management
22.A Head of Department shall—
- analyse ethics and corruption risks as part of the department’s system of risk management;
- develop and implement an ethics management strategy that prevents and deters unethical conduct and acts of corruption;
- establish a system that encourages and allows employees and citizens to report allegations of corruption and other unethical conduct, and such system shall provide for—
- confidentiality of reporting;
- the recording of all allegations of corruption and unethical conduct received through the system; and
- mechanisms to ensure that employees and citizens are made aware of such system;
- establish an information system that—
- records all allegations of corruption and unethical conduct;
- monitors the management of the allegations of corruption and unethical conduct;
- identifies any systemic weaknesses and recurring risks;
- maintains records of the outcomes of the allegations of corruption and unethical conduct; and
- records all gifts accepted by employees as contemplated in regulation 13 (h); and
- refer allegations of corruption to the relevant law enforcement agency and investigate whether disciplinary steps must be taken against any employee of the department and if so, institute such disciplinary action.
23. Ethics Officer—
(1) An Executive Authority shall designate or appoint such number of ethics officers as may be appropriate, for the department to—
- promote integrity and ethical behaviour in the department;
- advise employees on ethical matters;
- identify and report unethical behaviour and corrupt activities to the Head of Department;
- manage the financial disclosure system; and
- manage the processes and systems relating to remunerative work performed by employees outside their employment in the relevant department.
(2) The Head of Department shall establish an ethics committee or designate an existing committee, chaired by a member of the SMS, preferably a Deputy Director-General, to provide oversight on ethics management in the department.
The Directive on the institutionalisation of ethics officer function in the public service further clarifies the role of ethics officers:
Extract from the 2023 Directive on the institutionalisation of ethics officers in the public service, section 6
(f) assist and support the HoD with the:
- analysis of ethics and corruption risks to guide the development and implementation of the ethics management strategy that prevents and deters unethical conduct and acts of corruption;
- establishment of a system that encourages and allows employees and citizens to report allegations of corruption and other unethical conduct (commonly known as “whistleblowing” mechanisms);
- establishment of an information system that records and monitors allegations of corruption and unethical conduct, including the identification of systemic risks and recurring risks; and
- raising of awareness around the prohibition on employees in conducting business with the state.
The mandate for ethics management in local government is largely derived from:
SYSTEMS ACT – DISCLOSURES
- The Local Government Anti-Corruption Strategy (2016), which sets out the national objectives to combat corruption in local government.
- The Municipal Integrity Management Framework (2016) is linked to the strategy, but sets out the responsibilities of individual municipalities. As an ethics officer you should at least read the Municipal Integrity Management Framework.
The following is also applicable to local government:
Public Administration Management Act, 2014
- Section 4 – Basic values and principles governing public administration
- Section 8 – Conducting business with the state
- Section 9 – Disclosure of financial interest
- Section 15 – Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit
While the entire Municipal Integrity Management Framework is important, and should be read, the following synopsis of the principles of the Framework is useful.
1. LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT
Municipal leadership should set the tone and drive good governance, organisational integrity, and anti-corruption initiatives.
2. COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP
Communities must be acknowledged as the ‘owners’ of municipalities and are therefore entitled to transparent and accountable governance.
3. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES & CAPACITY
Appropriate governance structures should be in place and should effectively ensure good governance and the implementation of integrity and anti-corruption programmes.
There should be sufficient capacity to implement the integrity management requirements.
4. INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Prevention
Municipalities should:
- Promote a professional ethical culture;
- Promote sound governance and risk management;
- Ensure competent employees of integrity are appointed; and
- Manage conflicts of interests proactively.
Detection
Municipalities should:
- Put in place systems and processes to ensure that they detect instances of corruption that may occur; and
- Manage information on cases reported or under investigation and report such information to the MEC and the Minister.
Investigations
Municipalities must ensure that all legitimate corruption allegations are investigated. They may develop internal capacity, make use of external expertise, or draw on provincial or national expertise.
There must be transparency about how investigations are dealt with.
All matters must receive the appropriate level of independent investigation. A multi-agency approach should be promoted.
Resolution
Municipalities should ensure the timely, fair and complete resolution of corruption matters. Perpetrators must be held accountable, losses must be recovered and recurrences prevented.
5. REPORTING
Municipalities must submit reports to appropriate entities to ensure implementation and transparency.
Effective information management systems should be implemented to ensure the appropriate information is kept and reported.
You can also watch the following National School of Government video of the Municipal Integrity Management Framework.
Strategic Work
Strategic work is done once in 3 years. This work integrates ethics into the organisation’s long-term vision, governance systems, decision making, and stakeholder engagement.
Institutionalisation
Everyday Work
The institutionalisation of ethics is the core role of the ethics officer or the everyday work. The focus of institutionalisation is on how to make ethics real in the organisation so that it becomes part of the organisational culture.
INSTITUTIONALISATION
Making Ethics RealIn The Organisation.
The work of the ethics officer is to manage the ethics programme of the organisation.
