‘Gold standard’: Makhura says lifestyle audits on Gauteng officials to include lie detector test

Some Gauteng government officials will be subjected to a polygraph test as part of their compulsory lifestyle audits.

Addressing the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Gauteng premier David Makhura confirmed that senior government officials will undergo the polygraph test process conducted by the State Security Agency (SSA).

A polygraph test, or more frequently called a lie detector test, is a test used to verify a person’s truthfulness via a series of questions posed to the individual undergoing the test, according to LexisNexis.

Gold standard

‘Set a precedent’

These polygraph tests, which Makhura referred to them as a “gold standard” to find out the truth, will be starting in September, after all members of the executive council (MECs) voluntarily offered to undergo the process.

“Our [MECs] will go through a process that will enable them to get a full top secret security clearance.

“We are amongst two provinces that have done lifestyle audits in the way President [Cyril] Ramaphosa has prescribed. That’s Gauteng and the Eastern Cape… The Western Cape did it differently [and] appointed a private company,” he said.

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Makhura explained that he was of the view that the current process of lifestyle audits was not good enough, adding that the provincial government wanted to uphold “a high standard of ethics”.

“So the end process of this is – that all the MEC’s will do a polygraph test. Everything else has been done… The State Security Agency has completed the work they have done.

“The polygraph test is very important for us, it’s what we call the gold standard. We want as the Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee to set a precedent that even before officials are appointed as [MECs] they must undergo the lifestyle audits that will do full assessments of all their income and assets, but also assess their fullness of their competence,” the Gauteng premier said.

Qualifications

He added that the audits would also include the assessment of qualifications.

“We don’t want find out later, like we have seen in another province, that someone’s qualifications were questioned, but they had gone through some lifestyle audits and it was not picked up.

“If you claim you have such a qualification, they will be verified… it includes if you are involved in any crime for that matter.

“It’s not just income or whether you have a conflict of interest, but are you involved in any criminal activity? That’s the gold standard. It [also] includes checking tax compliance,” Makhura said.

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The premier further said the polygraph tests would not be restricted to politicians.

“Given where our country is in dealing with challenges of corruption and malfeasance, it is worth setting the standard for ourselves. It’s a national decision of the Department of Public Administration that says the lifestyle audits must apply to all the officials in government,” he said.

Makhura also indicated that the departments with the largest budgets would be prioritised when the lifestyle audits are conducted.

“We have identified departments that are a priority based on their track record and health is one of them.

“There’s been too many incidents of corruption,” he said.