Public Service and Administration clarifies reported suspension costs across national and provincial departments

Clarification on reported suspension costs across national and provincial departments 

The Department of Public Service and Administration wishes to correct misleading information in the media regarding the suspension of public servants. The media reports in question create an inaccurate impression about the applicable processes and framework governing suspensions, and it is therefore important to clarify the relevant provisions and procedures to ensure that the public is correctly informed. 

The Minister for the Public Service and Administration through the Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (PAEIDTAU), is responsible for establishing norms and standards for discipline management in the Public Service, meaning the national and provincial departments (161 departments and approximately 1.3 million employees). 

These norms and standards are contained in legislation, regulations, Disciplinary codes signed at different bargaining councils with the Resolution 1 of 2003 signed at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) being the main code and the PAEIDTAU provides technical assistance to departments to implement these norms and standards and monitors their implementation of the discipline management prescripts.  Departments and particularly heads of departments are responsible to manage discipline within their departments. The PAEIDTAU furthermore monitors implementation by departments, with departments required to provide statistics on their discipline management to the DPSA on a quarterly basis, signed off by the head of department. The DPSA doesn’t account for local government and entities. 

Current status on dismissals: 

Reports received from departments reflect that at the end of December 2025, a total of 674 officials (out of 1.3 million employees) were on precautionary suspension/transfers across the public service. 

Of these cases, 158 were completed within the 90 days period, and 516 cases progress beyond this period, with 243 from national departments and 273 cases from provinces. 

Of these 516 cases, the majority is still under the 12 months period, with 9 cases that are longer than 12 months, and 5 cases longer than 24 months, but less than three years. Most of these employees are on precautionary transfer as per the prescripts of the newly adopted Directive on Discipline Management. 

The PAEIDTAU detected one suspension that is longer than 6 years.  That is from the Department of Women and Persons with Disabilities.  The person is not at home, but working, as the person is on precautionary transfer. There is no monetary loss attributed to this case as the official is on duty, however transferred to another section, while the disciplinary process unfolds. No other cases as old as this had been reported to the DPSA. After the publication of the information in the media, DPSA has been alerted to a long suspension in the Gauteng Provincial government, which is being followed up. 

What are the common causes for these delays as reported to the DPSA? 

Non-availability of initiators/chairpersons. 
• Regular postponements and appeals. 
• Complexity of cases. 
• Lack of capacity and capability. 

The departments with the most suspensions are: the Department of Correctional Services, South African Police Service, Education and Training as well as Home Affairs and coincides with their focussing on addressing corruption within their departments. 

The province with the most suspensions is KwaZulu-Natal, followed by the Eastern Cape. 

The information on the current precautionary suspension is based on the 3rd quarter (October to December 2025) report of 2025/26 financial year.

This means that at the end of 2022, the total amount paid for suspensions was R281 million. At the end of March 2025, this amount was R 204 million and not R800 million as reported in the media.

Precautionary transfers occur when an employee is temporarily transferred to another work location or re-assigned other duties as a precautionary measure. The intent is for temporary removal from the place of work or nature of work to avoid circumstances where, for instance, the presence of an employee at the workplace or in the specific environment might jeopardise any investigation into the alleged misconduct. The current observed trend is for suspensions to increase, given the focus on addressing corruption in departments.

Re–assignment of duties or transfer should always be given priority over a precautionary suspension in order to curb expenditure whilst salaries are paid with no services rendered.

To address discipline management in the Public Service, the DPSA undertook the following:

1. In 2023, a Discipline Management Strategy, adopted to address challenges identified during an assessment of the discipline management situation in the Public Service as captured in a Diagnostic Report, namely outdated norms and: A Guide on Discipline Management, a Directive on Discipline Management (addressing suspensions and requesting transfers) and the review of the Disciplinary Code of 2003, that is currently serving at the PSCBC.
2. Technical Interventions: The department conducted interventions to reduce the number of backlogs in precautionary suspensions by targeting departments with a high number of cases as well as higher cost.

3. The PAEIDTAU embarked on an intervention on Case Backlog Project commenced on 27 October 2023 and ended on 6 December 2023, involving 7 National and 21 Provincial departments. With the direct intervention of the PAEIDTAU, the average resolution of suspension cases increased to 53% at the end of December 2023. Follow-ups were initiated in January 2024 with the heads of departments (HODs) and additional responses were solicited from departments.

   The PAEIDTAU embarked on an intervention on Case Backlog Project in Q2 of 2024. The Precautionary Suspensions Backlog Project commenced on 1 October 2024 and ended on 29 November 2024, and targeted cases of members of Senior Management Services. The intervention cases were 66, and 36 (53%) resolved and uplifted. Follow-ups initiated in January 2025 with the heads of departments (HODs) and additional responses received from departments.

   Operational support: The DPSA continues to monitor progress of cases and has committed in the Annual Performance Plan to analyse reports and follow the trends identified. There are also plans, as per instruction of Cabinet, to address provinces with higher numbers of misconduct cases and a failure to conclude cases, such as with the Free State.

For further information, please contact:
Mr. Sakhikhaya Dlala:
Sakhikhaya.Dlala@dpsa.gov.za | 078 746 8169

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