Motlhabi denies crisis at AoJ
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday June 1, 2016 15:05
The department has reportedly been experiencing overpayment of salaries to employees something which saw four judges of the High Court being reported to the police last year despite the organisation having measures in place for the recovery of such monies.
He explained that overpayment of salaries to employees especially judges was due to the organisation’s lack of monitoring mechanisms.
“Most employees are overpaid when casualty returns are not issued on time. This is often due to the fact that the organisation is large and monitoring mechanisms are not put in place. We refer most of the issues to the Attorney General’s Chambers for advice,” he said.
Motlhabi was responding to PAC member Samson Moyo Guma who had wanted Motlhabi to admit that the AoJ was in crisis.
He said Motlhabi could not keep on denying that there was no crisis when they have failed to manage their finances and continue to present the same issues before the committee.
“Overpayment of employees has become a suspicious trend because now it seems like an inside job that is done deliberately. Maybe there is someone who benefits from all this mess,” he said.
However Motlhabi denied that there was any inside job to overpay certain employees indicating that the lack of casualty returns will be dealt with.
He said the organisation has put strategies in place to address the lapses and where possible recover the money.
Matlhabi further explained that employees must be proactive in notifying the management as soon as possible if they receive money not due to them to avoid any unnecessary issues.
“We feel that employees should be able to notify management if they are overpaid so that the mistake can be ratified immediately. It cannot be a one way thing,” he said. This was in response to PAC members Biggie Butale and Abram Kesupile who wanted to know who was often held accountable when an employee was overpaid. The members had made reference to the four suspended judges who were overpaid salaries as part of rentals despite being given government accommodation.
Kesupile said management should be accountable because most people do not pay much attention to their salary slips except when they see suspicious withdrawals.