THE revelation last week by the Public Service Commission that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is the most corrupt department of President Jacob Zuma's government is not surprising.
We are inundated daily with reports of case dockets going missing, the prosecution having botched a case, cases being thrown out of court because of shoddy investigative work, and many other maladies in the justice and security cluster.
Currently Justice Minister Jeff Radebe is in the firing line after it was revealed in court papers this week that he had placed very little information before Zuma when the president appointed Menzi Simelane as head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) late last year.
As it stands, if the court accepts that a rational process was not followed in appointing Simelane as boss of the NPA, his appointment could be declared invalid.
Simelane, as former director-general of the same department, two years ago gave evidence at the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into whether Vusi Pikoli was fit to hold office.
Pikoli had at that time been suspended as head of the NPA.
The Ginwala Commission, in its findings and recommendations, found that Simelane had lied and distorted facts in his submissions.
From evidence at the commission it could be deduced that Simelane did not meet the required legal criteria to head the country's prosecuting authority.
According to the Public Service Commission the Justice Department, established to protect and enforce the law, is fraught with corruption, fraud, financial mismanagement, theft, misappropriation, abuse and gross negligence.
A total of 1204 cases of financial misconduct were reported nationally and investigated by the commission. At 121, the Justice Department has the highest number of cases, followed by the Department of Home Affairs.
More than R100000 million was lost in government departments during the 2008-09 financial year.
The commission says the government only recovered just under R10million of funds misappropriated by its departments.
Criminal proceedings were instituted against employees in only 390 (32 percent) of the cases.
So the decision by the ANC national general council to establish an integrity committee that will deal with the scourge and cancer of corruption within the ruling party's ranks is an important acknowledgement that political thieves pose one of the greatest threats to South Africa's economy.
We hope that the committee will live up to its name.
Get to root of problem
THE revelation last week by the Public Service Commission that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is the most corrupt department of President Jacob Zuma's government is not surprising.
We are inundated daily with reports of case dockets going missing, the prosecution having botched a case, cases being thrown out of court because of shoddy investigative work, and many other maladies in the justice and security cluster.
Currently Justice Minister Jeff Radebe is in the firing line after it was revealed in court papers this week that he had placed very little information before Zuma when the president appointed Menzi Simelane as head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) late last year.
As it stands, if the court accepts that a rational process was not followed in appointing Simelane as boss of the NPA, his appointment could be declared invalid.
Simelane, as former director-general of the same department, two years ago gave evidence at the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry into whether Vusi Pikoli was fit to hold office.
Pikoli had at that time been suspended as head of the NPA.
The Ginwala Commission, in its findings and recommendations, found that Simelane had lied and distorted facts in his submissions.
From evidence at the commission it could be deduced that Simelane did not meet the required legal criteria to head the country's prosecuting authority.
According to the Public Service Commission the Justice Department, established to protect and enforce the law, is fraught with corruption, fraud, financial mismanagement, theft, misappropriation, abuse and gross negligence.
A total of 1204 cases of financial misconduct were reported nationally and investigated by the commission. At 121, the Justice Department has the highest number of cases, followed by the Department of Home Affairs.
More than R100000 million was lost in government departments during the 2008-09 financial year.
The commission says the government only recovered just under R10million of funds misappropriated by its departments.
Criminal proceedings were instituted against employees in only 390 (32 percent) of the cases.
So the decision by the ANC national general council to establish an integrity committee that will deal with the scourge and cancer of corruption within the ruling party's ranks is an important acknowledgement that political thieves pose one of the greatest threats to South Africa's economy.
We hope that the committee will live up to its name.
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