Cape Town - The eagerly awaited lifestyle audits of Western Cape cabinet members revealed no conflict of interest, Premier Alan Winde said.
When Winde became premier in May last year, he made a commitment he and his cabinet would undergo the audits.
Releasing the audit report, Winde said: “The audits, conducted by Nexus Forensic Services, included Intelligence Searches (BIS) on myself and all members of the cabinet and our spouses or life partners.
“It also included questionnaires and requested supporting documents for the declarations made on the questionnaires. Finally, Nexus analysed each member’s bank statements.
“They have, however, advised that the director-general (of the provincial government), Harry Malila, should request members of the executive to declare interests in any dormant or inactive business entities, in line with best practice. In the interests of full transparency, the director-general will be doing this.”
Reacting to the report, the leader of the opposition in the legislature, Cameron Dugmore said: “When Premier Winde announced that he would conduct lifestyle audits we welcomed it but we raised concerns that contracting a private company would always be open to conflicts of interest. Now we have been given a three-page summary with no detail.
“I will be requesting that those who have conducted the audit are called to the standing committee on the premier and constitutional matters to provide full information on the methods used.”
Good Party MPL Brett Herron welcomed the publishing of the report but said it “is superficial and there is very little in the report to support the so-called finding that there are no conflicts of interest”.
“The premier must release the full report, which should include evidence that the consultants are themselves independent of influence. The audit relied largely on self-disclosure. The audit does not adequately interrogate red flags like allegations of electricity theft in George by the MEC for Housing nor whether members of the executive use their positions to enrich their political party,” he said.
The audits covered the period from June 1, 2017 to May 31, 2019.
Cape Argus