Africa-Press – South-Africa. The government has a poor track record in implementing lifestyle audits – but the public works department has audited 60 of its most senior staff.
Details presented in Parliament on Tuesday revealed that 60 of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s most senior staff were subject to the first phase of lifestyle audits.
Of the 60, 48 were compliant, and disciplinary action was recommended against 12.
Officials presented progress regarding efforts to get the ethics, compliance, infrastructure and consequence management unit fully operational.
The Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) branch applied unsuccessfully for funding for key governance and compliance posts in 2017 and 2019.
In 2021/22, the establishment of an ethics and consequence management unit within the GRC branch was committed to, in the department’s implementation charter for 2022/23.
In the first quarter of 2022, a review of the GRC branch’s capacity was undertaken.
Officials told MPs that funding was currently being considered.
The GRC branch developed the department’s ethics framework and also received guidance from the Department of Public Service and Administration on the roles of ethics officers and ethics committees.
“Although funding for ethics posts is not yet secured, an official within the GRC branch was nominated to undertake the ethics officer functions, in addition to his current role, and recommended for designation as ethics officer in terms of Public Service Regulation. The vacancy must be advertised as soon as possible,” a presentation by officials read.
In July, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille announced that lifestyle audits were underway in the department.
During the SIU’s work on the lifestyle audits, the SAPS Criminal Record Centre was consulted – and, of 60 staff members, 58 were found to have no criminal record.
Preliminary checks indicated that the remaining two officials were possibly linked to a criminal record.
In April, former Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo revealed a list of national departments and entities which had conducted lifestyle audits.
It included the Departments of Communications and Digital Technologies, Cooperative Governance, Environmental Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries, Human Settlements and International Relations and Cooperation.
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