After Ramaphosa fails to consider anti-corruption body ‘essential’, DA could head to court

The DA says it will take legal action in order for the Public Service Commission (PSC) to be regarded as an essential service amid the level 4 lockdown in the country.

DA MP Leon Schreiber said in a statement on Friday that President Cyril Ramaphosa not considering the PSC essential was unconstitutional.

“The DA is outraged to learn that President Ramaphosa does not regard anti-corruption work and constitutionally mandated oversight over the public service an essential service,” he said.

UPDATE: Mchunu clarifies that anti-corruption body the PSC will operate during lockdown

Schreiber said the director-general of the public service commission revealed that Ramaphosa and the national command council (NCC) had classified all aspects of the PSC’s work, including its anti-corruption hotline, as non-essential during a meeting of the portfolio committee on public service and administration on Thursday.

“This means that the African National Congress-led national government has effectively suspended all forms of oversight over the entire public service. This is despite the fact that the PSC’s role is more important than ever in the midst of the lockdown crisis created by the government,” he said.

The MP said there were escalating reports of government officials exploiting the lack of effective oversight during the lockdown – to loot taxpayer funding and steal money meant to provide food to starving citizens.

ALSO READ: Police probe Limpopo municipal speaker over food parcels.

He further said the government preventing the PSC from doing its watchdog work meant Ramaphosa had flung open the doors for ANC cadres in the public service “to go on a looting spree”.

“As described in chapter 10 of the Constitution, the PSC is a vital institution in our democracy that ‘must exercise its powers and perform its functions without fear, favour or prejudice in the interest of the maintenance of effective and efficient public administration and a high standard of professional ethics in the public service’.

“The Constitution further explicitly states that: ‘No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the Commission’,” the MP said.

Schreiber added that the DA was of the view that the decision to prevent the PSC from fulfilling its constitutional oversight and anti-corruption duties was likely unconstitutional.

“The DA will urgently consult our lawyers in preparation for legal action to declare Ramaphosa’s actions unconstitutional and to force the NCC to declare the PSC’s oversight and anti-corruption work essential,” he concluded.

READ NEXT: DA claims eThekwini has failed to meet its own deadline to provide food relief.

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