Durban:  The cabinet "had not considered" audits of politicians' lifestyles because of anti- corruption measures already in place, says Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Answering questions in the National Assembly yesterday, he detailed requirements for Cabinet members and MPs to declare their interests and said anyone could report an individual with suspicious wealth to Sars.   The revenue service had carried out more than 10 000 lifestyle audits on individuals in the past two years, deputy president said.

Breaches of the parliamentary code governing MPs' interests were dealt with by Parliament while complaints against cabinet members - governed by the Executive Members Ethics Act - could be lodged with the public protector.   Ironically, Parliament's committee on ethics and members' interests recently agreed that the rules governing MPs' declaration of assets and business dealings needed to be tightened.

Spouses, for example, cannot be compelled to declare their interests if they are unwilling, unless they are also MPs.   The committee is also keen to end the practice of keeping confidential that part of the Register of Members' Interests - published by Parliament each year - which details the monetary value of investments and directorships.

In the National Assembly yesterday, opposition MPs were vociferous in their support for lifestyle audits - a move spearheaded by Cosatu, but which President Jacob Zuma has called "too broad".

Motlanthe said: "It is a term in vogue now, but if the mechanisms to conduct such lifestyle audits are not in place, we can also create other difficulties and the public representatives are already subjected to these measures," he said.   "Where we are aware that there is an individual who has ill-begotten wealth, the agencies are there. There is even an Asset Forfeiture Unit that can seize or impound that ill-begotten wealth."

He steered clear of commenting on ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's reported enrichment through Limpopo government tenders, saying the matter was being "attended to elsewhere" and that he did not have all the facts.  But he had discussed with Zuma the need for companies that won state tenders to be monitored to see whether they did the job properly.

Motlanthe also stopped just short of conceding that the ANC's stake in a company that will score millions from construction of Eskom's new power station was a conflict of interest.   ANC investment arm Chancellor House has a 25 percent stake in Hitachi Power Africa which won a R40bn contract from Eskom to provide boilers for the new Medupi power station.   He was about to qualify a statement that negative perceptions over Chancellor House's R5-billion stake "shouts to high heaven", when he was stopped by Speaker Max Sisulu saying his time was up.

Earlier, ministers in the cabinet's governance and administration cluster suggested that a ban may be "unconstitutional" and infringe on the party's rights.

• This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on March 04, 2010