AfriForum demands answers from the president and Gauteng premier regarding long overdue promised lifestyle audits of government officials
The civil rights organisation AfriForum today sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Premier of Gauteng David Makhura, demanding clarity about the progress of the lifestyle audits of senior government officials.
In February 2018 President Ramaphosa promised that lifestyle audits would be conducted for ministers and senior government officials and in August 2020 he repeated this pledge. However, in August 2022 there is still no sign of the results of these lifestyle audits. The public remains in the dark regarding the complete details on the progress to date and when it will be completed.
In February 2022 the Public Service and Administration Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, claimed that the government has yet to make any significant progress with lifestyle audits for cabinet ministers and their deputies.
Since 2020 Gauteng Premier David Makhura has claimed that lifestyle audits of Gauteng’s executive leadership were underway. At the launch of Gauteng’s anti-corruption report in May 2022, he claimed that these audits and their results would be reported and made available soon. According to the 2022 Gauteng anti-corruption report, the State Security Agency (SSA) has already completed the lifestyle audits of the executive council as requested by the premier and the results will be released as soon as due consultations have been completed. More than two months later, in August 2022, the public has yet to hear anything about these audits and their results.
AfriForum has therefore written to President Ramaphosa, as well as Gauteng Premier David Makhura, demanding:
- Detailed feedback on the exact progress of the promised lifestyle audits of ministers and senior government officials.
- The identification of a deadline for when these lifestyle audits are set to be concluded and their results released.
“President Ramaphosa in 2018 said that he would rather be seen as a weak president than split the ANC seeing as his mission is to keep the ANC united. Are these lifestyle audits standing in the way of that mission? Is that why we have not seen any results in over four years? The public deserves to know,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum.
“In Gauteng, it appears to be the same story, a lot of talk and promises, but no results or disclosures. This is not how a party behaves that has nothing to hide. The ANC seems to believe that the public will forget the promise of these lifestyle audits, but they are wrong. Unfortunately, for the ANC, organisations like AfriForum never forgets and we will hold them to their promises,” van Zyl concludes.
If AfriForum does not receive a satisfactory response, they will consult with their legal team on the next step.
