News24 reports that according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, his Cabinet ministers are all innocent until proven otherwise by lifestyle audits, which have been delayed yet again.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa updated MPs on the lifestyle audits that were introduced in April 2021. He had little to tell MPs other than saying that the audits would be concluded "soon". However, Ramaphosa made it clear that lifestyle audits were on his radar. According to Ramaphosa, the process should be done "shortly," and the director-general in the presidency, Phindile Baleni, would report on the audits. Ramaphosa said while lifestyle audits were intrusive, the sensitive nature of the information was dealt with a high degree of confidentiality. However, he added that the vetting of senior government officials remained a challenge and the State Security Agency was working on the backlog after several entities submitted applications for vetting. As of 31 March 2023, more than two years after the lifestyle audits were introduced, only 36 of 44 national departments and 89 of 103 provincial departments indicated that they had performed lifestyle reviews for the 2022 financial year.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jason Felix at News24
- Read too, 'Slightly delayed' lifestyle audit on ministers to be concluded soon, says Ramaphosa, at TimesLIVE
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