Amidst high scale corruption being exposed across the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has challenged the Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, to follow in the footsteps of his Western Cape counterpart, and institute lifestyle audits for all his cabinet members.
This is according Andrew Louw, MPL – DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader
Louw says while Dr Saul committed, at the start of his political term last year, to impose lifestyle audits on himself, his cabinet, senior government officials, as well as government staff employed in Supply Chain Management, we have yet to see this happen.
“This is in stark contrast to Premier Alan Winde, who, after committing last year that his cabinet would undergo lifestyle audits at the beginning of the term and again at the end, was last week able to declare the results of the first audit. In this regard, Winde was able to announce that all members of his cabinet, including their spouses, live a lifestyle in line with their income and that there were no conflicts of interest.
“At a time when government funds, not least of all Covid-19 disaster funds, are blatantly plundered at an unprecedented scale, it is crucial that Saul pulls out all the stops to bring an end to the debilitating scourge of corruption that has brought this country, and this province, to its knees.
“Above all, he needs to ensure that no one is able to use their position on the provincial executive to enrich themselves because the cleaning up of this administration must commence from the top down. Lifestyle audits have long since been a tool employed by the DA-run Western Cape government to fight corruption. They are where Saul should start and end.
“I have personally pushed for lifestyle audits to be conducted in the Northern Cape since 2011. As the leader of the official opposition and as a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL), I have even offered to go first. But so far not Premier Hazel Jenkins, Sylvia Lucas or even Saul, have yet proven themselves willing to act against corruption.
“Given the inherent nature of corruption in this country, it is increasingly essential that absolutely every mechanism possible must be utilized to prevent millions of rands being channeled into pockets of connected individuals, tenderpreneurs, covidpreneurs and anyone else who thinks it is okay to steal from the government, and in turn from our impoverished and unemployed citizens.
Corruption is a crime against our people. It is the big scale theft of services and social relief that our poor and most vulnerable depend on to survive. It is wrong on every level and all those who dare partake, must be stopped.
*Press release
