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The row that has erupted following the Minister of Transport S'bu Ndebele's acceptance of a Mercedes Benz gift from a group of contractors raises serious questions about current regulations guiding the acceptance of gifts to public servants which need to be addressed immediately to avoid similar debacles in future.

When Parliament reconvenes next month the Democratic Alliance (DA) will table a Private Member's Bill to amend the Public Service Act to provide watertight guidelines on post-employment receipt of gifts for public servants. We will also be making a submission to Parliament's Joint Ethics Committee to amend the code of conduct for members of the executive in terms of the Executive Members' Ethics Act.

The purpose of our Private Members Bill is to introduce a sanction on post-employment gifts for senior public servants for at least two years, in order to avoid the possibility of improper influence. We will be proposing the inclusion of a similar clause in the code of ethics for members of the executive.

We believe these will help to allay fears that post-employment gifts to government leaders are a reward for previous favours or an investment for future ones.

The legislative intervention we propose is similar to a clause included in the Draft Public Administration Bill, which has been put on hold indefinitely, and reads as follows:

‘If a contract is concluded, or extended, with a service provider to provide services or goods to a public administration institution a public servant who was involved in the procurement process not within 12 months after such individual or body was so contracted receive any gratification from such individual or body'.

No existing laws or regulations prescribe either a window period for receiving gifts or provisions for penalties for violating the specific sections of the regulation. This creates uncertainty as to whether there is a conflict of interest when a public servant receives gifts from the public or business sector once they have moved from one sphere of government to another. This policy vacuum has severe implications for good governance and public confidence in the state.

The DA will closely monitor developments emerging from cabinet's commitment yesterday that there is a need to ‘revisit the executive code of ethics' to ensure that this matter is addressed.