Large amount stolen from S African coffers

CAPE TOWN - A total of 346 million rand (about $46 million) were stolen from the state coffers in the past financial year, according to a report published on Sunday.

The report, tabled by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to Parliament this week, blamed civil servants for the stealing.

The commission came to the conclusion after probing financial misconduct in 39 national departments and nine provincial governments.

A total of 1,135 cases of financial misconduct were committed by civil servants during the 2009/2010 financial year, according to the report published by Sunday Times.

Of these 998 were found guilty, the report said.

This figure was the highest recorded in five years - representing a staggering 346 percent growth compared with 100 million rand (about 13 million dollars) in 2008/2009.

The PSC slammed the government for not robustly pursuing criminal prosecution.

"Failure to institute criminal action... may encourage acts of financial misconduct to continue to be on the rise," said the report.

President Jacob Zuma pledged in his State of the Nation address last month that the government would take tougher action against corruption.

One of the measures is to review the entire state procurement system to ensure better value for money from state spending.

"To further improve security, the Department of Home Affairs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the banking industry, to roll out the online fingerprint verification system in all participating banks, to assist in fraud prevention and detection," Zuma said.

The government would work with the business and social organizations to implement anti-corruption programs, he said.