NPA monitors risk of officials moonlighting outside their paid work

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it is monitoring the risks of possible conflict of interest that might arise from requests by its officials wanting to do work outside their remunerative employment.

This emerged in the NPA’s annual report for the 2020/21 financial year that was tabled in Parliament recently.

In the report, the NPA said all its senior management staff and 98.3% of non-senior management staff filed financial disclosures.

However, the prosecuting body said there was a significant increase in the number of remunerative work applications received in line with poor economic outlook, which was compounded by the fact that there was no salary increase.

“The possible conflict of interest that could arise as a result of the work performed outside of the NPA is closely monitored,” the report said.

The number of requests for moonlighting by officials were not specified. The report did not indicate how many were approved in 2020/21.

The NPA also said its Integrity Management Unit (IMU) ensured that the integrity of the NPA and its staff was maintained and enhanced.

It also said the focus for the financial year has been on managing the process of establishing the Office for Complaints and Ethics (OCE).

“The intention is to create a single, co-ordinated repository for complaints and to influence and manage the integrity and governance oversight functions of the NPA. The capacity will be housed in the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions and the process will be completed during the coming year.”

The prosecuting body said the NPA Act allowed for the creation of a structure in terms of which anyone may report complaints, alleged improper conduct, or conduct that has resulted in impropriety or prejudice on the part of a member of the NPA.

“The NPA has affirmed its commitment to a high integrity institutional culture. Such a culture – which underpins accountability, compliance, good governance and strong institutional performance – is required to meet both the legal and public service requirements of the NPA, as well as enabling the NPA to meet its goal of becoming an independent, professional, accountable and credible institution,” the report said.

It said a task team was established in mid-2020 to set up the OCE by the end of November 2021.

Political Bureau