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Boksburg - Civil servants in Gauteng do not declare their business interests, the Public Service Commission said on Wednesday.
"The overall compliance rate of the submission of financial disclosure framework (FDF) is 79% over the past five financial years," commissioner Michael Seloane said in Boksburg.
"What is expected is to be a 100% declaration. Over the past five years, Gauteng government has never been able to reach that."
He said disclosure of interests was to enable government and those involved in handling tenders to properly do their work and also protect individuals from being tempted to be biased.
"If you own companies and you're taking decisions about tenders, you may be tempted to prefer your company," he said.
Seloane said although people did not declare, the PSC was able to find their names on the registrar of businesses and this led to investigations.
He said based on the scrutiny conducted for the 2012/13 financial year of the FDFs submitted by the members, the PSC discovered that at least 42% had not disclosed their involvement in companies.
Over 200 cases of potential conflict of interests were identified.
The department of health had the highest number with 31 cases followed by roads and transport with 27 and education with 25.
He said it was important that those in the public sphere should refrain from doing business with the state to avoid conflict of interest.
"If you did not disclose, it means you have something to hide," he said.
Seloane added that although others disclosed their interests, they still had to ask for permission before doing business with the state.
