A few weeks ago, the public heard how junior officials at the home affairs department raked in millions of rand by accepting cash to process documents for foreign nationals.
The evidence of the enrichment was staggering. An analysis of a construction company registered in the name of one official’s husband revealed deposits totalling R8.9m between 2020 and 2023. Another official built a two-storey mansion and even paved a road leading to her home — all on a monthly salary of R25,000.
Special Investigating Unit (SIU) officials were able to uncover this alleged large-scale theft because the unit had obtained a proclamation from the president authorising the probe. Were it not for this proclamation, it is unlikely the public would have known about this.
This is why the proposal by acting SIU head Leonard Lekgetho — to amend the SIU Act so that lifestyle audits no longer require “secondment agreements” with government departments — should be welcomed.
Lekgetho said the SIU had recommended that the department of public service and administration, the custodian of government lifestyle audits, adopts a “blanket lifestyle audit proclamation for the SIU to conduct audits on high-risk departments” to fast track the process.
Officials might be discouraged from engaging in corrupt activities if they know there is a system in place to track their assets and lifestyles in relation to their earnings.
“It means we don’t need secondment; you can do it right away. And we don’t depend on departments to say you can do it.”
If this plan goes ahead, it will be a huge boost and a “game changer”, in Lekgetho’s words, in clamping down on public sector corruption.
Lekgetho said legislative proposals were informed by what the SIU had picked up during the many corruption investigations across the country.
Lekgetho said proactive lifestyle audits were an essential preventative measure, citing the example of the multibillion-rand looting of Tembisa Hospital.
There are clear advantages to having legislation amendments that permit SIU officials to conduct lifestyle audits, one of which is to detect unexplained wealth. Once the SIU is able to identify officials whose assets and their lifestyles are inconsistent with their salaries, it could flag possible corruption or fraud.
Officials might be discouraged from engaging in corrupt activities if they know there is a system in place to track their assets and lifestyles in relation to their earnings.
The proposed legislative reforms will also help restore public trust in government institutions that have previously been undermined by corruption scandals.
Another benefit of implementing these lifestyle audits would be to help other law enforcement agencies, including the police and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), to pursue legal action against alleged wrongdoers.
Another benefit for these envisaged audits would be to reveal patterns — such as departments or roles which are more prone to corruption — helping government improve internal controls.
The SIU probe into home affairs officials’ lifestyles was able to identify areas in the department where corruption is able to fester.
The SIU said it was paper-based and manual processes that have long created space for crooked officials to overlook fraudulent documents or approve applications that do not meet the relevant regulatory requirements.
This has made it easier for the department to remedy this by shutting down all of those manual processes and replacing them with new cutting-edge digital systems that leave no space for manipulation.
The SIU should get all the support it needs to get more powers so that there is trust again in the public service.
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