Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023 Submission of Public Comment

A joint submission by PARI, PSAM, TEI, and Corruption Watch regarding the Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023, focusing on strengthening prohibitions against public sector employees conducting business with the state and improving financial disclosure and remuneration standards in South Africa.

• The submitting organisations argue that Section 8 of the Act, which prohibits public sector employees from conducting business with organs of state, should be strengthened to include beneficial owners of companies, not just directors, and that failure to comply should be a criminal offence and an act of misconduct.
• The submission proposes that prohibitions on conducting business with the state should be aligned with the Public Procurement Bill to exclude relatives, including spouses, of public office bearers and public servants from bidding in institutions where those relatives serve.
• The authors express concern over a new clause, Section 8(4), which allows the Minister to prescribe certain remunerative but non-profit transactions as not constituting 'conducting business'; they request that the circumstances for this application be clearly indicated and open to public scrutiny.
• The submission recommends the creation of a comprehensive government database or digital solution to check public administration employees against integrity-related information, such as company directorships and beneficial ownership lists.
• The organisations support the introduction of a 'cooling off period' for public sector employees (Section 8A) and the development of norms and standards for upper limits of remuneration (Section 17A), though they warn that remuneration limits should not hinder the state's ability to attract scarce, high-level skills in public entities.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2023). Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023 Submission of Public Comment. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PAM-Bill-2023_Submission_v13.pdf

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023 Submission of Public Comment. 2023. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PAM-Bill-2023_Submission_v13.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023 Submission of Public Comment |date=28 July 2023 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PAM-Bill-2023_Submission_v13.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2023public, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{Public Administration and Management Amendment Bill 2023 Submission of Public Comment}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PAM-Bill-2023_Submission_v13.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }