Lifestyle audits of ‘critical officials’ should be made public, Hlabisa tells parliament

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Velenkosini Hlabisa told parliament the lifestyle audits of certain people, especially those with the power to give tenders, should be made public.

The minister was answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon.

There, amid discussions about corruption and fraudulent tenders, Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane turned attention to lifestyle audits.

These are investigations that compare a person’s income with their standard of living to identify if they are living beyond their means. If so, this can be an indicator of corruption.

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Lifestyle audits: ‘We support that’

“The ecosystem of corruption is such that you find municipal-owned entities who have acting executives in one instance and in other instances when the decisions are taken and lifestyle audits take place they are not always made public,” Maimane said.

“Would the minister, in the act of preventing corruption over a long period of time, support the view that for municipal-owned entities, CEOs, and their political principals – those lifestyle audits must be made public so that when decisions are made they can be cross-referenced against that?”

Hlabisa responded that indeed, the lifestyle audits of “critical officials who have an influence in deciding who at the end of the day gets a tender” should be completed and made public.

“We support that,” the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader told members of parliament.

Watch the National Assembly Plenary below:

Cogta minister urges tenderpreneurs to report corruption

Hlabisa said it is a two-way street, however, and the public should report corruption when they see it.

“We will be able to deal with corruption if we say some of the tenders are engulfed with corruption,” he said in response to a question from Wayne Thring of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).

“Now, the advice is when a service provider is requested to pay upfront – the service provider as you say honourable member is an ‘ethical man’ – he must report that ‘I was tendering for a particular project and they wanted me to pay money upfront in order to be given this project’.”

He said citizens had to take responsible action if South Africa was to clamp down on corruption.

“To complain and not report anywhere will never bring it to an end.”

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