Lerato Mailoane
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has called on officials to institute proactive measures to detect and prevent acts of corruption, fraud, and maladministration and promote a culture of good governance, accountability, and transparency in government.
Speaking at the Gauteng Clean Audit and Ethical Governance Seminar at Ubuntu Kraal in Soweto on Wednesday 29 March 2023, Lesufi said the provincial government is investing in systems and controls to mitigate emerging risks through auditing.
"Any major contracts emanating from the elevated commitments must be thoroughly audited before being allocated", said Lesufi.
He reaffirmed good governance can be achievable by following legislation and proper financial protocols. 
"You can do well, especially when you want to empower and support underprivileged people by following the necessary audit standard. There is necessary audit support, and most importantly, we can account for every cent given to us," he said.
In attendance at the seminar was the MEC for Finance, Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng Ethics and Anti-Corruption Advisory Council Chairperson Terrence Nombembe, representatives from the Auditor General's office, senior government officials, and stakeholders representing various sectors. 
The province has put in place proactive systems and processes to fight corruption in the province. 
These include establishing integrity management units in all Gauteng government departments, regular fraud, and ethics risk assessments to determine policy gaps and areas for improvement, promoting organisational values, and ethics capacity building.
Other interventions include ethical decision-making training, leadership style assessments, and code of conduct training in collaboration with the Gauteng City Region Academy and the National School of Government. 
Thus far, Gauteng Provincial Government has collaborated with the Chapter 9 institutions; Special Investigative Unit (SIU), the Auditor General, Public Service Commission (PSC), the Public Protector, and the State Security Agency (SSA). Their work is complemented by the civil society advisory panel on ethics, and the Gauteng Ethics Advisory Council.
"We want to ensure that Gauteng is clean, and whatever we want to do, we expect the Advisory Council to assist us. The Gauteng Audit Services usually waits for somebody to commit a mistake, then they go for an audit and give us a report. 
"I have said it to the MEC and the Head of Department for Treasury, working with the Office of the Premier; gone are the days where we wait for a mistake to happen and then investigate. We must investigate and authorise a contract before it is released.
 "We should learn from the PPE scandal and many other scandals that have ravaged our province," he added.
According to Lesufi, it is crucial to upskill senior managers when departmental budgets are elevated. He said accountability coupled with ethical leadership remains critical. 
"We want to assure you that we won't use auditing to delay service delivery. Speedy service delivery can happen in an audit environment. We don't want supply chain managers that don't want to take lifestyle audits and that are captured by service providers. We have taken a firm decision to ensure that supply chain managers account for their skills, earnings, and most importantly, their lifestyle," concluded Lesufi.