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Public Service Act, 1994 (Act No. 103 of 1994)

Chapter VII : Obligations, Rights and Privileges of Employees

31. Unauthorized remuneration

 

(1)
(a)
(i) If any remuneration, allowance or other reward (other than remuneration contemplated in section 38(1) or (3)), is received by an employee in connection with the performance of his or her work in the public service otherwise than in accordance with this Act or a determination by or directive of the Minister, or is received contrary to section 30, that employee shall, subject to subparagraph (iii), pay into revenue
(aa) an amount equal to the amount of any such remuneration, allowance or reward; or
(bb) if it does not consist of money, the value thereof as determined by the head of the department in which he or she was employed, at the time of the receipt thereof.
(ii) If the employee fails to so pay into revenue the amount or value, the said head of department shall recover it from him or her by way of legal proceedings and pay it into revenue.
(iii) The employee concerned may appeal against the determination of the head of department to the relevant executive authority.
(iv) The accounting officer of the relevant department may approve that the employee concerned retains the whole or a portion of the said remuneration, allowance or reward.

[Section 31(1)(a) substituted by section 27(a) of Act No. 30 of 2007]

(b) If—
(i) in the opinion of the head of department mentioned in paragraph (a) an employee has received any remuneration, allowance or other reward contemplated in that paragraph; and
(ii) it is still in his or her possession or under his or her control or in the possession or under the control of any other person on his or her behalf, or, if it is money, has been deposited in any bank as defined in section 1(1) of the Banks Act, 1990 (Act No. 94 of 1990), or a mutual bank as defined in section 1(1) of the Mutual Banks Act, 1993 (Act No. 124 of 1993), in his or her name or in the name of any other person on his or her behalf,

that head of department may in writing require that employee or that other person or that financial institution not to dispose thereof, or, if it is money, not to dispose of a corresponding sum of money, as the case may be, pending the outcome of any legal steps for the recovery of that remuneration, allowance or reward or the value thereof.

[Section 31(1)(b) substituted by section 27(a) of Act No. 30 of 2007]

(c) A person of the financial institution contemplated in paragraph (b) who or which fails to comply with a requirement in terms of that paragraph, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year.
(d) The provisions of this section shall also apply to an officer who is a head of department, and in such a case a reference to a head of department shall be construed as a reference to the Treasury.

 

(2)
(a) Subject to paragraph (b), any salary, allowance, fee, bonus or honorarium which may be payable in respect of the services of an employee placed temporarily at the disposal of an organ of state, another government or body contemplated in section 15(3) shall be paid into revenue.

[Section 31(2)(a) substituted in section 27(b) of Act No. 30 of 2007]

(b) In circumstances regarded by the relevant executive authority as exceptional, the said authority may approve of paying out of revenue an amount equal to that salary, allowance, fee, bonus or honorarium, or a portion thereof, to the employee concerned.

[Section 31(2) substituted by section 26(b) of Act No. 47 of 1997]

 

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(i)—
(a) 'this Act' includes any law repealed by this Act;
(b) 'determination of the Minister' includes any recommendation of the Public Service Commission established by section 209(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act No. 200 of 1993), or of any commission for administration, public service commission or other like institution established by or under, or which functioned in accordance with, any such law; and
(c) 'section 30 (b)' includes any corresponding provision of any such law.

[Section 31(3) inserted by section 26(c) of Act No. 47 of 1997]