Vetting challenges hold up security clearances for officials

THE Presidency has identified failure by supply chain management officials to subject themselves to polygraph tests and submit financial statements to the State Security Agency (SSA) as a challenge when they are vetted in line with a decade-old Cabinet directive.

- MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

Briefing the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on the vetting of officials in the supply chain management per the 2014 Cabinet directive, Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation senior official Jonathan Timm said the SSA has reported some challenges that contributed to delays in the vetting of officials.

He said some of the prominent challenges were noncompliance by vetting subjects and failure to submit required documents, mostly financial statements.

The officials were also not submitting the vetting forms and failed to honour or postpone appointments, especially polygraph tests. There was also the issue of the officials’ reference not being easily accessible, as well as a long time to receive fingerprints from the SAPS.

Timm also said the SSA has developed an action plan to address these challenges.