Thousands of suspended officials facing criminal charges costing South Africa millions

Suspended civil servants are costing the fiscus millions of rands each month - and some have been sitting at home on full-pay for more than a year. Others have been placed on special leave because they are facing criminal charges or because there are internal inquiries taking place.

These public servants come from all tiers of government: from office cleaners to law enforcement officials to executives of parastatals.

Yet, the exact number is unknown.

Professor Stan Sangweni, chairperson of the Public Service Commission, said the commission did not keep statistics on how many civil servants fell into this category.

The Department of Public Service and Administration, too, could not provide a figure for national departments, never mind provincial counterparts and municipalities.

With no accurate statistics available, the price tag for the taxpayer is unknown - rather like a blank cheque.

But, one thing is for sure, the sum is considerable.

Senior officials, who command annual salaries ranging in the region of R1-million, are among those suspended.

Top law enforcement officials drawing salaries while they remain outside the office include National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli, who was suspended last year and now awaits the decision of the Ginwala inquiry, and Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who will be on paid leave for some time because he has had his contract renewed - even though he is facing corruption charges.

Ekurhuleni police chief Robert McBride has been on special leave with full pay for more than a year while on trial on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.

In Cape Town, his counterpart, Bongani Jonas, has been suspended on full pay while the City of Cape Town conducts an internal investigation. Jonas is facing a charge of illegally changing his driver's licence.

Meanwhile, corruption-prone government departments are footing the bill for thousands of suspended officials.

The Department of Correctional Services suspended more than 500 officials during 2007/08, at a total cost of R15-million - and some cases took more than a year to resolve.

The Department of Home Affairs suspended more than 100 officials in the first half of the year.

Last year, Home Affairs suspended 189 officials in a six-month period. A third of these officials were dismissed

The department has in the past struggled to conclude such cases, with some dragging on for years in certain provinces.

Meanwhile, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula has revealed that over the past three years his department spent R90-million on paying the salaries of suspended cops for a total of 12 723 working days.

Some suspensions dragged on for more than a year, such as that of a senior superintendent in visible policing who was suspended for 638 days.

A police inspector in Cleveland, Johannesburg, was suspended for 788 days on full pay.

In the Western metropole of Cape Town, 29 senior police officers were suspended while five inspectors were suspended for 233 days in Kwazulu-Natal.

The situation is no better in the military.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota recently revealed that some defence employees had been suspended for almost six years and that suspensions over the past three years cost R10,9-million.

Lekota said 42 South African National Defence Force members were currently suspended on full pay and that the average length of time for such suspensions was more than two years.

A senior Land Affairs official sat at home drawing his full salary for more than three years.

Parastatals suffer similar problems.

At Armscor, a top official has been drawing a salary of over R1-million while the organisation sorts out her conflict with the CEO, who she says harassed her.

Earlier this month, the media reported that in the impoverished Eastern Cape the provincial education department spent more than R5-million on the salaries and legal costs of senior staff who had been suspended for 18 months.

They included a director who was suspended for booking former MEC Johnny Makhato on an economy flight instead of on a business-class international flight.

Ghost employees are also still drawing salaries - including in the city of Cape Town.

An employee of the solid waste department was admitted to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital two years ago, but stayed on the payroll because nobody noticed he had not been at work.