Ramaphosa and Malema told, you have 14 days!

ACTIONSA has challenged the leaders of the four biggest political parties to undergo voluntary lifestyle audits.

Independent forensics expert Paul O’Sullivan would conduct the audit.

ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said he was giving the ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa, DA leader John Steenhuisen, EFF president Julius Malema and IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa 14 days to take the challenge.

“If a country is plagued by a trust deficit between political leaders and citizens, and high levels of moral decay and corruption, as ActionSA, we must find a way to rebuild trust and give hope to South Africans,” he said.

Mashaba said parties must give South Africans the opportunity to vote for political leaders who are free from any corruption allegations and above reproach.

“Therefore, on behalf of ActionSA, I'm challenging the leaders of the four largest political parties represented in Parliament to undergo public lifestyle audits before the 2024 national elections.

“As the leader of ActionSA, a party committed to ethical leadership, I have long volunteered to undergo a lifestyle audit, and I believe these audits should then be published for public scrutiny,” he said.

He said O’Sullivan has already agreed to conduct these lifestyle audits at an approximate cost of R5 000 to R10 000, which ActionSA has offered to pay for.

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Lifestyle audits of public servants have been compulsory since April 2021.

Ramaphosa pointed out last year that the process of including members of the executive branch was initiated towards the end of 2023. 

Mashaba said there were too many accusations of possible corrupt activities among the political leaders to increase their assets and income, and a lifestyle audit will provide clarity as to whether voters need to be concerned.

“Any political leader seeking to represent the South African people should be willing to show voters whether they have anything to hide. I have nothing to hide and will be the first to undergo an audit to prove this. I challenge other political party leaders to do the same. We simply don’t want to find ourselves in a situation after the 29 May elections where political leaders use state resources to their benefit by covering their larger-than-life expenses,” he said.

He said it was only when the electorate voted for ethical leaders who could lead by example that Mzansi could turn around the breakdown in public service, which battles cronyism, corruption, and abuse.

“ActionSA is a party that doesn’t simply want to speak about the need for ethical leadership but wants to show through our actions our commitment to it, which is why we have made the invitation to political leaders. Because Only Action Will Fix South Africa,” said Mashaba.