Lesufi set to axe several department heads after lifestyle audit findings

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is expected to axe a number of provincial department heads, many of whom have failed a series of lifestyle audits.

High-ranking government officials told the Sunday Times Lesufi will act against officials as early as next week.

This comes after a report by the Gauteng ethics advisory council this week revealed that several senior managers had failed lifestyle audits and were doing business with the state. 

According to the report, more than a third of the 19 senior managers — including chief executives and department heads — who went through lifestyle audits were either classified as high risk, or completely failed them.

It also found that 152 government employees were conducting business with the state, in contravention of the Public Administration Management Act, which prohibits government employees from doing so.

The report fingered the provincial department of education as the biggest culprit — with 124 employees identified as conducting business with the state.

It found there was an increase in the number of officials engaged in business with the state in three departments, including education, human settlements and infrastructure development.

“Investigations are under way in departments where officials have been identified as conducting business with the state to determine the extent of their involvement,” the report said.

Investigations are under way in departments where officials have been identified as conducting business with the state to determine the extent of their involvement.

However, the investigations faced challenges, including limited capacity and delays in responses from organisations linked to the identified officials.

“Relevant executive authorities and accounting officers have been directed to take appropriate measures to enforce.”

Spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga said the provincial government had historically implemented the recommendations of the council, adding that the report would be tabled to an executive council meeting on Wednesday.

“We will then respond formally to the [ethics advisory] council on what we are going to do ... within 14 days ... There is no history of not executing whatever we are directed by that council,” he said. 

The pressure on Lesufi to take action comes after a report by the Sunday Times that his government was spending R34m a month on renting office space.

Highly-placed sources in the Gauteng government told the Sunday Times the premier would soon axe a number of department heads.

“At this moment we can't say when, but this decision is imminent,” said a source close to the decision.

Lesufi is said to be gunning for some department heads for underspending their allocated budgets, which has led to the return of R1.8bn to the National Treasury.

A number of the department heads are said to have also failed to meet set targets.

“It’s a combination of things. The premier has decided to fire a substantial number of HODs for a combination of transgressions, including ... that they have failed the lifestyle audits,” said one of the sources.

“He is also unhappy ... that they have underspent and the government had to return a significant portion of its budget. They have also missed their set performance targets.”

Insiders said that at the recent ANC Gauteng lekgotla, the youth league had “raised sharply” that Lesufi must act on officials who were not assisting his government to deliver services, “especially those that are leading departments that offer bursaries to young people”.

According to insiders, Lesufi believes a number of department heads remain too complacent, after Gauteng residents punished the ANC at the polls last year.

The ANC dropped from 50% in 2019, to 34% in the 2024 national and provincial elections, forcing it into a coalition to continue governing the province.

“You see, you can’t lose elections as we lost them in the province and let it be business as usual, you just can’t. And these fellows are indifferent about this, there’s no sense of urgency, they are not in a hurry to fix things that are giving us problems,” said a senior government insider.

“Some of them have been in one position for too long, so they are too relaxed. So we are going to pounce on a number of them.”

Lesufi hailed the ethics advisory council, saying it was on their advice that his government continued to clean out the rot.

“We are the first province to have these independent people who give us guidance on areas where they feel we need to move,” he said. “It is their recommendation on open tender, it is their recommendation on lifestyle audits — they've now recommended on matters related to local government.”

On employees doing business with the state, Lesufi said that in the education department the system had picked up the names of teachers who were employed at exam marking centres.

“It’s mainly teachers who are marking, but you can’t rule out a teacher who is ... selling tissue paper to a school, sweets — I’ve signed [authorised] two where somebody was saying they want to sell sweets,” he said.