Macpherson reveals that about 400 'high-risk' DPWI employees undergoing lifestyle audits
The audits are aimed at determining whether senior government officials are living within their means.
FILE: Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson. Picture: X/GovernmentZA
JOHANNESBURG - About 400 "high-risk" employees at the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure are currently undergoing lifestyle audits.
This includes senior managers in supply chain management, finance and other sectors where officials are exposed to potential corruption.
The audits are aimed at determining whether senior government officials are living within their means.
When Dean Macpherson took up the role of minister of public works and infrastructure more than a year ago, one of his first decisions was to announce an investigation into a cybersecurity scam that allegedly defrauded the department of about R300 million.
The minister recently released the damning findings of a forensic investigation he commissioned into the irregular R800 million oxygen plant tender.
Macpherson said that this and more had necessitated the need for lifestyle audits of senior managers in "high-risk" positions within the department.
"If you are arriving in a very expensive Porsche, how did you get that Porsche? If you just had a million rand and just paid off your bond, how did you do that on your salary? It's not a witch hunt, it's to make sure we only have the most ethical people working in our department."
Macpherson said the audits would be complete by March next year.