South Africa’s government is moving ahead with plans to introduce lifestyle audits across all 257 municipalities, but the regulations will not be ready before the local government elections on 4 November.

Public Service and Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi said the regulations are expected to be completed only by the end of the 2028/29 financial year.

Audits to expand to local government

Lifestyle audits are already used in parts of national and provincial government, but they are not currently compulsory in local government.

Municipal councillors and senior officials are required to make financial disclosures under existing legislation. The planned regulations would create a more formal framework for lifestyle audits at municipal level.

Buthelezi said developing the rules is complex because several government bodies need to agree on the legal framework.

Final regulations will require agreement from the Public Service and Administration Minister, Finance Minister, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister and the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association.

Task team begins drafting regulations

Senior officials from the Department of Public Service and Administration, Cogta and Salga established a task team in July.

The team is working to align ethics management, discipline management and lifestyle audits across all three spheres of government.

Three technical workstreams have been created, focusing on ethics, discipline and lifestyle audits. The lifestyle audit group has already started drafting the regulations.

Public consultation will take place before the regulations are approved and finalised.

Final rules expected by 2028/29

Buthelezi said the consultation, approval and finalisation process is expected to be completed by the end of the 2028/29 financial year.

The ethics and discipline workstreams have not yet met because the lifestyle audit regulations have been identified as the first priority.

DA pushes for faster action

DA MP Marina van Zyl criticised the timeline, arguing that municipalities cannot afford to wait several more years for stronger measures.

She said lifestyle audits for senior municipal officials should be introduced urgently to help identify unexplained wealth and strengthen accountability.

Government has previously said it was reviewing the local government legal framework to determine whether it was sufficient for lifestyle audits to be rolled out at municipal level.