Huge problems for lifestyle audits in South Africa
The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration has highlighted the challenges of doing lifestyle audits of government employees.
Given the heightened levels of corruption in South Africa, lifestyle audits are seen as a valuable way of seeing how political and state employees live.
Lifestyle audits are forensic investigations that compare an individual’s known income to their actual standard of living and can highlight corruption.
Government officials have repeatedly called for the use of lifestyle audits to highlight corruption. Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, recently called for lifestyle audits on her department.
However, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration said that these audits have high costs and administrative burdens.
The committee received briefings from several provincial governments, including Gauteng, KZN, the Northern Cape, Western Cape, and North West, on their attempts to conduct lifestyle audits.
The Chairperson of the committee, the DA’s Jan de Villiers, said that while progress has been made, lifestyle audits remain at an early stage of institutionalisation.
“We are still working towards making lifestyle audits a standard and embedded practice within the public service,” he said.
“There is not yet a uniform approach applied across provinces; however, I commend the progress that provinces have made in developing and using lifestyle audits.”
He also said there is a need to address the gaps identified in the Department of Public Service and Administration’s framework.
The committee noted that lifestyle audits appear more effective when conducted by independent bodies rather than by departments.
“It seems more appropriate that independent bodies lead and implement these audits, whether the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) or external audit services,” said Mr de Villiers.
Can’t police yourself
De Villiers added that it is a challenge for ethics officers within internal departments to act as the “police” of their own institutions.
The committee also noted that the SIU is not fully empowered to conduct lifestyle audits, as it is only seconded to these audits.
It said that a presidential proclamation remains the most effective way to ensure that the SIU is fully empowered.
De Villiers said that technical processes between the South African Revenue Service, the Auditor-General, National Treasury and banks are still being developed.
The committee also found challenges in accessing the required financial records, on top of the substantial effort already required for lifestyle audits.
“We must look at how technology can be used to streamline the auditing process,” the chairperson said.
“There must be ways to make compliance easier for auditees, as obtaining the required documentation, such as bank statements, can be complex and costly.”
He added that there may be a need for legislative and budgeting reform from the National Treasury regarding how provinces are expected to fund audits.
There may also be an opportunity for these processes to recover misappropriated funds and return them to departments.
The presentations from the provinces also showed that auditees’ declarations are often insufficient and may raise suspicion, especially where legal correspondence is involved.
There is also a clear lack of provisions requiring family members to declare their interests, with many failing to comply or submitting incomplete disclosures.
“This points to the need for legislative reform and stronger enforcement to clarify that family members form part of these audits and must comply accordingly,” the chairperson said.
There were also calls to expand lifestyle audits across all spheres of government, including local government.
Given that many local municipalities struggle to achieve clean audits, he argued that the standards set for national and provincial government should also be applied to the local level.
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