NC public servants refusing lifestyle audits challenging govt legally

The Northern Cape provincial government said it’s receiving legal challenges from public servants who are refusing to submit themselves to lifestyle audits.

Lifestyle audits for provincial governments became mandatory in April 2022 in attempts to minimise corruption, but the province has told Parliament’s Public Service and Administration Committee on Wednesday that it lacks both the internal capacity and the budget to conduct the audits.

Premier Zamani Saul said through the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the province has only completed just over 60% of the required audits.

Five premiers and their directors-general have appeared before Parliament on Wednesday to provide updates on the progress made in conducting lifestyle audits.

But the Northern Cape said unlike richer provinces, the audits are swallowing up its already limited budget.

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Saul said the decision to contract the SIU to conduct the audits at a cost of R13 million was met with backlash.

However, Saul said 2025’s September deadline for completing the audits for 590 officials has not been met.

The deadline was extended to March, but there’s only been partial compliance by most of the auditees.

“Only 367 audits are complete, and we’ve got non-submission of 216, which is roughly about 40%.”

Director General Justice Bekebeke said he’s facing an uphill battle to get officials to hand over their personal information, and that of their spouses.

“If we thought this was a programme that was welcomed by the bulk of civil servants, our experience in the province is that it has not been.”

He said the province has enlisted the advice of the State law advisor to get officials to comply.