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Self-enrichment a cancer - premier

Polokwane - Limpopo Premier Chupu Mathabatha has blamed deliberate unaccountability in state departments and institutions on civil servants who believe in self-enrichment.

Mathabatha was addressing delegates attending the Public Service Commission's Stakeholder Engagement Forum in Polokwane.

“The self-enrichment syndrome is a cancer that we must confront and root out from public service. There are things that we simply can no longer tolerate in public service; these include what I consider to be deliberate failures of some departments or officials to provide their annual financial statements to the auditor general in time for audit,” said Mathabatha.

He said those who are privileged to work within public service were also trusted with public resources.

“This is not a blank cheque. You must account (for expenditure). To act otherwise is to undermine our Constitution and to take our people for granted."

Political affiliations

Mathabatha also quoted former President Thabo Mbeki's reprimand of lazy government officials.

He referred to "public servants who see themselves as pen-pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self-enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have a right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible, work as little as possible and knock off as early as possible”.

He said that government employees would no longer be given the leeway to work under the influence of their political affiliations.

"We must ask the question if we have done enough to transform the public service into effective and efficient machinery reliable to deliver on the mandate to better the lives of our people," Mathabatha said.


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