Public Service and Administration Director-General, Ms Yoliswa Makhasi is urging government departments to report all forms of misconduct emanating from lifestyle audits to the newly established technical assistance unit.
The Director-General said departments and government components are requested to complete the reporting template for lifestyle audits and submit to the DPSA by end of January 2022.
In a circular to Heads of both national and provincial departments, Ms Makhasi said: “Departments and government components are required to report issues of misconduct emanating from lifestyle audits to the Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (PA-EID-TAU) within the DPSA in terms of section 15 of the Public Administration Management Act (PAMA) 2014,” she said.
This newly established Unit, as part of the Anti-Corruption Task Team, collectively contributes to the fight against corruption. Cooperation between the Unit, law enforcement and other relevant agencies are key to identify public administration employees involved in corruption.
This includes cases involving public servants involved in Unemployment Insurance Fund, Special Relief of Distress and Personal Protection Equipment fraud. Last year, Ms Makhasi approved the framework and strategy for implementing lifestyle audits in the public service space.
In March this year, the DPSA issued a guideline to implement lifestyle audits in the public service to guide departments and government components in their respective institutions. Conducting lifestyle audits in the public service space has become compulsory for all national, provincial and government components from April 1, 2021.
The Public Service regulations (22) 2016 provides guidance to heads of department to analyse ethics and corruption risks as part of the department’s system of risk management. Ms Makhasi said lifestyle audits should be considered as a risk management tool to prevent, detect fraud and corruption in the public service space.
The TAU is mandated to strengthen government oversight of ethics, integrity and discipline through monitoring the implementation of lifestyle audits in the public service.
She said the Offices of the Premier in their respective provinces are required to consolidate the information before submission to Mr Isaac Kabini email address: IsaacK@dpsa.gov.za.
