Five years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for lifestyle audits to be conducted on senior government officials including the executive as a vow to curb corruption in the public sector.
This call, he repeated years later with intent to “disrupt and dismantle state capture and decisively deal with the scourge of corruption”. Well, you can guess what has happened since then to fulfil this promise. Little to nothing.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa told the National Assembly the lifestyle audit process on ministers had hit a snag due to a change in service providers.
“I do regret the delay, it should not have taken as long as it has but the intent is there,” he said while also revealing that more than 11,000 public servants in national government had undergone lifestyle audits.
Many South Africans had legitimate expectations that Ramaphosa’s government would seek to do better than that of his predecessor in the fight against corruption, especially having campaigned on the ticket of clean governance.
Since he took office, Ramaphosa has sought to assure the public in words and not by action that his administration is determined to root out corruption through key measures including lifestyle audits.
But what has transpired thus far can only serve to hurt him politically in the eyes of voters. If anything, it proves that like those who came before him he is no exception when it comes to making promises and failing to keep them.
Perhaps Ramaphosa shouldn’t have made the promise in the first place. There has been growing criticism of his administration over many such unkept promises and his response in parliament to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s question on compulsory lifestyle audits this week played right in the hands of his detractors.
The president said: “The delays have been occasioned by, initially, a process that would have led to a very superficial result, which I sent back and said I want a more detailed process that would detail to us what our lifestyle is.”
This, at the very least, appears to imply that the president found out that the reality often doesn’t fit the promise. Many South Africans are tired of hollow promises, and they are crying out for action Mr President.
SOWETAN | It's time for action, Mr President
Image: Esa Alexander
Five years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for lifestyle audits to be conducted on senior government officials including the executive as a vow to curb corruption in the public sector.
This call, he repeated years later with intent to “disrupt and dismantle state capture and decisively deal with the scourge of corruption”. Well, you can guess what has happened since then to fulfil this promise. Little to nothing.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa told the National Assembly the lifestyle audit process on ministers had hit a snag due to a change in service providers.
“I do regret the delay, it should not have taken as long as it has but the intent is there,” he said while also revealing that more than 11,000 public servants in national government had undergone lifestyle audits.
Many South Africans had legitimate expectations that Ramaphosa’s government would seek to do better than that of his predecessor in the fight against corruption, especially having campaigned on the ticket of clean governance.
Since he took office, Ramaphosa has sought to assure the public in words and not by action that his administration is determined to root out corruption through key measures including lifestyle audits.
But what has transpired thus far can only serve to hurt him politically in the eyes of voters. If anything, it proves that like those who came before him he is no exception when it comes to making promises and failing to keep them.
Perhaps Ramaphosa shouldn’t have made the promise in the first place. There has been growing criticism of his administration over many such unkept promises and his response in parliament to DA leader John Steenhuisen’s question on compulsory lifestyle audits this week played right in the hands of his detractors.
The president said: “The delays have been occasioned by, initially, a process that would have led to a very superficial result, which I sent back and said I want a more detailed process that would detail to us what our lifestyle is.”
This, at the very least, appears to imply that the president found out that the reality often doesn’t fit the promise. Many South Africans are tired of hollow promises, and they are crying out for action Mr President.
'Slightly delayed' lifestyle audit on ministers to be concluded soon, says Ramaphosa
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Lifestyle audits done on Gauteng MECs – Makhura
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