Public Service and Administration Minister, Ms Ayanda Dlodlo, will officially unveil the Technical Assistance Unit which is the national response towards fighting corruption in the public service space.
The Public Administration ethics Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (PA-EID-TAU) is scheduled to be launched on Monday, September 20, 2021.
The virtual event forms part of activities planned for month- long integrated Public Service Month (PSM) programme celebrated during the month of September to honour public servants, and serve as a mechanism to assess the quality of service delivery with a view to address aspects that are found to be compromising services standards.
The Unit was established in 2014 in line with the Public Administration Management Act (PAMA) of 2014 to set norms and standards aimed at addressing issues related to ethical conduct and corruption in the public service.
The launch, to be held through a hybrid platform (both physical attendance and virtual) will introduce the Unit tasked with among other functions to:
- Address the professionalisation of the public service through an improved implementation of ethics and anti-corruption policy such as conducting business with the State, performance of other remunerative work, discipline management and implementation of lifestyle audits;
- Strengthening of Ethics Infrastructure (e.g. Ethics Committees and Ethics Officers, whistle-blowing mechanisms);
- Improvement of discipline management particularly on capacity building, and addressing outstanding precautionary suspensions and the costs associated with it;
- Addressing issues of corruption through referral of cases follow through with disciplinary steps and addressing identified policy loopholes; and
- Synchronising of all three levels of the public administration.
Right after the launch, the Unit will host a dialogue to create awareness on the functions of the Unit, as well as the status pertaining to public service employees engaging in business with the State, and the financial disclosures made by senior members of the public service.
The session will also discuss the Guide on the reporting of unethical conduct, corruption and non-compliance to the Public Service Act, 1994 and Public Service Regulations, 2016 in the Public Service.
