Question NW1472 to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
08 June 2018 - NW1472
Stubbe, Mr DJ to ask the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
(1)Whether, with reference to the reply of the President, Mr C M Ramaphosa, to the debate on the State of the Nation Address on 22 February 2018 to implement lifestyle audits, (a) she, (b) senior management service members in her department and/or (c) any of the heads of entities reporting to her have undergone a lifestyle audit in the past three financial years; if not, have any plans been put in place to perform such audits; if so, in each case, what are the details of the (i) date of the lifestyle audit, (ii) name of the person undergoing the audit, (iii) name of the auditing firm conducting the audit and (iv) outcome of the audit; (2) whether she will furnish Mr D J Stubbe with copies of the lifestyle audit reports
Reply:
(1) & (2) The Honourable Member is raising a pertinent matter, that of fighting corruption both in the public and private sector. Accordingly, the President in his response to the debate on the State of the National Address on 20 February 2018 underscored this point and asserted,
“The work we must undertake to tackle corruption and state capture has, quite correctly, featured prominently in the debate. It is time that we implement our resolutions on the conduct of lifestyle audits of all people who occupy positions of responsibility, starting with members of the executive….
As we indicated in the state of the nation address, we are equally determined to tackle corruption and other economic crimes in the private sector. Institutions like the SA Revenue Service, the Reserve Bank, the Financial Intelligence Centre and our law enforcement agencies work together to detect and prosecute tax evasion”.
Lifestyle audits will go a long way in identifying corrupt practices and assist with the fight against corruption. Therefore, my department will implement any directive issued in this regard. I can assure the Honourable Member that the Government is serious about its commitment to fight this scourge. We have taken the necessary steps towards ensuring that this is realised. I wish to point out to the Honourable Member that public servants are now prohibited from doing business with the state or its organs. Incidentally, it was during my tenure as Minister for the Public Service and Administration that the Public Administration Management Act of 2014 which introduced this prohibition was drafted, processed through Cabinet, was approved by Parliament and assented to by the President in 2014.
Honourable Member, the prohibition referred to above is currently enforceable through section 13 (c) of the Public Service Regulations. The said section stipulates that an employee shall not conduct business with any organ of state or be a director of a public or private company conducting business with an organ of state, unless such an employee is in an official capacity a director of a company listed in schedule 2 and 3 of the Public Finance Management Act”.
The Financial Disclosure Framework which is currently implemented in the public service and applicable to all Middle Management Staff (MMS) and Senior Management Staff (SMS) is meant to identify and manage conflict of interest situations, ensure transparency and accountability (good governance), promote an ethical culture and prevent corruption in the public service.
In addition to the measures which we are already implementing, senior managers in the public service and Chief Executive Officers of our public institution are required to go through a vetting process, which is conducted by the Department of State Security.
With respect to Members of the Executive, Ministers and Deputy Ministers declare their financial interest in compliance with the Declaration of Members’ Interest Framework and the Executive Members Interests to Parliament and the President respectively.