In 2015 and 2018, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), together with The Ethics Institute, launched an electronic survey to test the ethics climate in the public administration. More than 8 000 employees partook in each of these surveys.
As a tool to improve ethics management in the public service, the surveys proved to be of significant value. Based on the survey results, the Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (PA-EID-TAU, within the DPSA) was able to identify ethics risks and opportunities in departments and through targeted technical assistance interventions, the Unit was able to improve compliance to the PSR, 2016.
More specifically, the 2015 survey result identified ethical lapses, which were addressed through amending the Public Service Regulations (PSR, 2016) in 2016. The 2018 survey found that progress was made with implementing the amended PSR, 2016 on national and provincial level, especially regarding the implementation of regulations addressing gifts, other remunerative work, the conducting of business with an organ of state/the State and whistle-blowing.
In order to continue the three yearly assessment of public sector ethics, The Ethics Institute (funded by the Canadian Government) developed a new survey to be administered in November/December 2021. Your cooperation with completing this survey will be sincerely appreciated, as the survey aims to improve ethics in our departments to benefit us as workers, but also the public who is dependent on us for delivering professional services.
The 2021 will also be an electronic survey, which will test the same modalities of the previous surveys, with an added focus on gender and the implementation of regulations regarding whistle-blowing and lifestyle audits.
This process will assist to a better understanding of the state of ethics in national, provincial and local government.
This survey is only done every three years, and provides an opportunity to make your views known.
Public servants are therefore invite to participate in the survey on the link: https://surveys.ethicssurvey.org.za/s3/6520571a8483
