The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Northern Cape Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, to make use of the lifestyle audits that have been conducted and concluded with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) over the past year, to now enforce real accountability of top senior managers who are doing business with the state.
Eight out of ten members of the Senior Management Service (SMS) in the Northern Cape, in the category for Heads of Departments and Director Generals, and a further 96 SMS members in the categories of Deputy Director Generals, Chief Directors and Directors were involved in activities that could be construed as posing potential conflicts of interest with the state.
This is according to the Public Service Commission’s 2023/2024 Annual Report. According to the last reporting date, 41% of SMS members also did not disclose directorships in companies.
The above findings are very serious. Public servants willfully concealing business interests is a red flag for corruption while conducting business with the state is a criminal offence.
The DA is aware of at least two HODs, three Chief Financial Officers and a Chief Director, who are implicated in serious wrongdoing but continue to draw salaries from the state because of the lack of internal consequence management against them.
If Premier Saul is serious about the fight against corruption, and if he is not protecting anyone, he must report on the long-outstanding findings of lifestyle audits on HODs and other SMS members. We also need his assurance that they are being used to ensure that government employees’ lifestyles are in line with their income.
Otherwise, the more than R7 million already spent on the SIU, will be fruitless and wasteful expenditure. That will add unacceptable insult to injury.
The DA will submit written questions to the Premier to track the process of all lifestyle audits in the Northern Cape province, to fight corruption within the Northern Cape government.