Pretoria - The National Anti-Corruption Hotline has been given a stamp of approval by President Jacob Zuma for its role in netting of 245 officials, who have been found guilty of misconduct.
President Zuma was responding to parliamentary questions on Thursday when he revealed the statistic.
Of the cases, 35 officials were suspended, while 120 were given final written warnings and 80 being dismissed. R100 million was recovered from perpetrators guilty of fraud.
"Against this backdrop, it is clear that the hotline has had positive spin-offs, not only in terms of monetary value but also in terms of disciplinary action taken against perpetrators," said Zuma, adding that the Public Service Commission is following up with departments on outstanding cases reported to the hotline.
The hotline turned one in September and can be used by anyone to report cases of corruption.
To intensify the fight against corruption, an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Anti-Corruption has been set up to ensure the alignment of corruption fighting initiatives.
"[Fighting] corruption should... unite all of us to ensure clean governance in both government and the private sector," said the President.
To strengthen South Africa's governance mechanisms, Zuma said government had started work on a green paper on cooperative governance.
The paper is due for submission for comments by February 2011.
In response to a question about the international trips in which he has been involved, Zuma said many benefits had been created for South Africa.
The President has recently been to Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The South African government and companies signed more than a dozen agreements in the fields of housing, power transmission, construction, mining, insurance, telecoms and nuclear power, among others.
Zuma has visited more than 20 countries since he took office. He has come under fire for spending his time on international trips and taking a large contingent of government ministers.
Zuma has also been on state visits to Angola, Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique and Uganda and United Kingdom, among others, as part of a push to open new trade and investment routes.
Government has in the past indicated that these international trips are an investment in building relations that will help the country meet its political, social and economic relations which will in turn also improve the quality of life of all South Africans.
