Frank Maponya

Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto has slammed senior government officials responsible for the delays in finalising cases of officials who were suspended on various charges in the province.

This follows complaints raised by members of the media regarding cases of suspension of officials in various departments ranging from fraud, corruption, maladministration and incompetency.

Moloto was speaking during the Premier's media networking session held at The Ranch Hotel outside Polokwane last week.

Among the cases were those involving six senior officials from the provincial department of roads and transport who were suspended in February, who still earn salaries because their cases had not yet been finalised.

Another case involved those of the four senior officials from the department of sports, arts and culture who were suspended in March following irregularities relating to the issuing of tenders during the Melting Pot Festival of 2002.

"While we acknowledge there are challenges we are faced with before final decisions can be made on the fate of the suspended employees, we also need to be wary of the fact that government is losing a lot of money," Moloto said.

He said those responsible for investigating, and ultimately making recommendations on the action to be taken against the offenders, must "be pro-active".

"The thousands of rands that we end up losing as a result of the delays in finalising cases against government officials can rather be used for something beneficial to the province," he said.

"It is an unacceptable situation. If the investigators found nothing wrong why are the cases kept on suspension," he asked.