Any Cabinet member mismanaging state funds must face consequences – Ramaphosa on lifestyle audits

President Cyril Ramaphosa says law enforcement will be roped in should lifestyle audit outcomes reveal any alleged misconduct by his Cabinet members.

Ramamphosa was responding to questions from MPs in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Lifestyle audits underway

In the Q&A session, Ramaphosa confirmed that lifestyle audits on the executive have finally commenced.

The process was being handled by the office of Presidency director-general, Phindile Baleni.

All Cabinet members, including himself and Deputy President Paul Mashatile, were currently in the process of submitting additional information required for the audits.

“As I have indicated before, the aim of a lifestyle audit is to collect as much information as possible on an individual’s lifestyle to be able to identify when an individual’s expenditure exceeds his or her income.

“In itself, a lifestyle audit is not conclusive but may indicate that further investigation is required to establish if there is any wrongdoing,” he told Parliament.

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The president said the audits were delayed partly because the process was initially outsourced.

“In the end, we found that the coverage of precisely what we sought was not as effective as we wanted it to be. It is now in the right place, under the right management and the process continues.

“That office has now sourced competent, skilled personnel with experience in conducting lifestyle audits, and the capacity-building exercise took longer than anticipated, but it is firmly underway.

“This is the first time that national government is conducting lifestyle audits of members [of the executive] and it requires new systems, processes and methodologies that should be employed.”

Watch the plenary below:

Audits would have uncovered corruption

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen highlighted that Ramaphosa’s promise to carry out lifestyle audits on the ministers dates back to 2018.

“This has been another broken promise,” he told the president.

Steenhuisen said had lifestyle audits been implemented, they would likely have uncovered the corruption allegations against Mashatile.

“Now you again announce lifestyle audits 71 days before the end of the parliamentary term. How is anyone supposed to take you seriously on your commitment to lifestyle audits,” the DA leader said.

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The DA last month laid criminal charges against Mashatile following media reports detailing the deputy president’s “lavish lifestyle”, allegedly funded by corruption-accused individuals who do business with government.

He added that the purported R2.3 million payment solicited by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula from a military contractor would have been picked up if lifestyle audits were in place.

“We also just learned in the last hour that the speaker’s house was raided by the Hawks that dating back to a time when she was appointed by you as your defence minister. Your failure to implement lifestyle audits is what has facilitated this alleged corruption by the speaker.”

President Ramaphosa promised in 2018 that he would implement lifestyle audits on his cabinet ministers, which was yet another broken promise. The DA showed that it can be done since Premier Alan Winde implemented independent Lifestyle Audits in the first 6 months of his term. pic.twitter.com/QXPpLeQpiB

— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) March 19, 2024

Cabinet members will face consequences

Ramaphosa, in his response, said while the lifestyle audits have taken a long time, the matter is “being addressed and reaching finality”.

“Indeed, it is a very serious matter that requires the serious attention that we are bringing to bear on it. I’m quite satisfied that the process we have now embarked upon,” the president said.

“Let me be clear that this is not even an attempt to dodge or move away from this whole process. It is to handle it as effectively as possible without leaving any gaps or holes,” he continued.

The president said any Cabinet member found to have mismanaged state funds following the lifestyle audits would be reported to the authorities.

“The law enforcement agencies will be furnished with whatever information that ferrets out misdeeds like that, and there will be consequences. Those who participate in activities that go against the ethics that are required must face the consequences, and that is something that I am very clear.”

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