Ministers call for government lifestyle audit

MINISTER of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel has called for legislation to be passed to allow ministers’ bank accounts to be scrutinised in an attempt to crack down on corruption and state capture.

He was backed by his cabinet colleague Blade Nzimande who said state capture by “parasites” and the looting of state-owned companies threatened democracy.

Speaking at the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) congress in Cape Town yesterday, Patel said it was important that government addressed “high levels of corruption in our ranks” and proposed lifestyle audits and regulation of party political funding as a means to do this.

He said if officials were driving fancy cars and going on expensive holidays, they should be asked “my dear comrade, where did you get this money?”

He said the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica) should be passed so banks can “look carefully at the financial transactions of prominent public figures like cabinet ministers to make sure that Ebrahim Patel, and all of us, can properly account for every cent that lands in our bank account”.

The Fica bill was passed by parliament earlier this year but has yet to be signed into law by President Jacob Zuma. The bill has raised the ire of many who view it as an invasion of privacy.