Cape Town - Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said on Monday no decision had been made on whether to disclose the outcomes of the yet to be undertaken integrity and lifestyle audits of senior department officials.
“The decision to disclose the results of the integrity and lifestyle audits has not been made.
"I will apply my mind after consulting with my Cabinet colleagues on the best way to deal with the outcome of the reports arising from lifestyle audits,” De Lille said.
She was responding to DA chief whip John Steenhuisen, who asked whether the integrity and lifestyle audits of senior officials in her department had commenced. Steenhuisen also asked for the details of the audits, whether they were conducted by an external service provider, and how that service provider was appointed.
De Lille had undertaken during her budget vote speech in July to institute lifestyle audits of all senior officials. In her written response, De Lille said the integrity and lifestyle audits of senior officials within the department had not yet commenced.
“The Special Investigating Unit has been identified to conduct this work in government departments. This mandate will be effected through a presidential proclamation, which is still under consideration,” she said.
On the day of her budget vote, the department formally advised the SIU of its readiness to subject the minister, deputy minister, director-general and the rest of the senior management to integrity and lifestyle audits.
She said the department would be advised by the SIU as soon as the proclamation was issued by the Presidency. The proclamation would spell out the terms of reference of the audits.
Asked if the results of the integrity and lifestyle audits of senior officials would be available to the public, De Lille said the decision had not yet been made.
The lifestyle audits were first mooted by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he took office early last year.
Ramaphosa had undertaken to tackle corruption and state capture, saying they would conduct lifestyle audits of all the people who occupy positions of responsibility, starting with the Cabinet.
In August 2018, the National Assembly heard that Ramaphosa established a technical team under the leadership of the director-general in the Presidency to explore various options to conduct these audits.
Last month Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu said his department was still forging ahead with setting up an ethics enforcement unit to conduct lifestyle audits on all civil servants in all three tiers of government.