Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu has urged government departments to enrol public servants for a range of Anti-Corruption Courses offered by the National School of Government (NSG).
The courses, the department said in a statement on Thursday, are designed to equip public servants prevent, detect, combat and investigate corruption in the public service.
The NSG, which is responsible for strengthening state capacity through education, training and development, is currently offering a bouquet of integrity management courses to promote ethical behaviour in the public sector.
“The country will be joining the world in marking the United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day on the 9th of December 2020,” reads the statement.
Mchunu said government’s main priority is to promote honesty, ethics and integrity in the public service.
“Corrupt practices impact negatively on the poor and make them unable to enjoy the quality of public services that they are entitled to. We want to strengthen all government departments and empower them with the capacity to prevent, detect, combat and investigate corruption. The four aspects are critical pillars in the fight against corruption,” he said.
Last month, Mchunu called upon public servants to enrol for the Ethics in the Public Service course, which is offered online by the NSG. Section 195 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 envisages a public service that will promote a high standard of professional ethics.
“It is envisaged that through providing ethics training, it will give effect to this constitutional principle and thus enable the State to function more effectively,” said the Minister.
The department said there had been a dramatic increase in uptake since the Minister’s call last month for officials to enrol for the course.
“More than 8 866 public servants have enrolled for the course, with almost 4 360 successfully completing it. This is a twofold increase in enrolments compared to the same time period last year,” said the department.
This course was developed in partnership with the DPSA, in an effort to help officials understand the revised Code of Conduct.
Courses include:
- Investigate Corrupt Activities and Related Offences
- Anti-Corruption Training for Practitioners
- Promoting Anti-Corruption in the Public Service
- Ethics Management for Local Government
- eLearning: Ethics in the Public Service (Compulsory Course)
– SAnews.gov.za
