FREE State provincial government employees living beyond their means may be called upon to explain the sources of their wealth in a new lifestyle audit that Premier Mxolisi Dukwana is rolling out.

The exercise is part of his administration’s efforts to crack down on public sector corruption and improve efficiency within state corridors.

“The roll-out of lifestyle audits has commenced in various departments,” Dukwana said in his State of the Province Address, delivered in Qwaqwa on Thursday.

“We continue to cooperate with the Special Investigating Unit on proclamations issued by the President as well as the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations.

“We are actively managing complaints management systems such as the Presidential Hotline whilst also collaborating with Chapter 9 institutions such as the Public Protector, Human Rights Commission and the Public Service Commission.”

A lifestyle audit is simply a study of a person’s living standards to see if it is consistent with his or her reported income.

Such assessments are conducted as a pro-active measure to identify possible corruption, fraud and other related offences.

“Building state capacity, injecting urgency and efficiency in our work remain one of our non-negotiables,” Dukwana said.

“We are intensifying our efforts to root-out maladministration and corruption in all its forms at all levels of government.”

The premier said the Free State would soon have in place a Provincial Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, a multi-sectoral advisory body focusing, among other responsibilities, on anti-corruption strategy,  public procurement reform and whistle-blower protection.

“The finalisation of the appointment of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council towards the end of 2023 now enables us to proceed with the establishment of the Provincial Anti-Corruption Advisory Council.

“It will synergize the work of various sectors in this critical environment.” – Staff Reporter

THE ANC in the Free State has dismissed suggestions the party’s former secretary-general, Ace Magashule, was likely to eat into its support base in the province.

Magashule, 64, launched a new left-wing party, the African Congress for Transformation (ACT), in August last year ahead of South Africa’s general elections slated for 29 May.

This followed his expulsion from the ANC after he was found guilty of violating the party’s constitution.

He had been suspended from the day-to-day running of the ANC in May 2021 as part of tougher rules for party members charged with corruption.

Analysts believe Magashule’s ACT could dilute support for the governing party particularly in the Free State where he was seen as a powerful and influential figure during his reign as the province’s premier from 2009 to 2018.

But not so, according to ANC Free State spokesperson Jabu Mbalula.

“That’s a hopeless attempt to eat into our support base,” Mbalula said in an interview with The Free Stater.

“People trying to follow him will discover he is now a different persona,” he added.

“He was using state and party resources to garner support during the time he was premier of the Free State up to the time he served as the ANC secretary-general.

“Who is and what he was are two different worlds and, as a movement, we are not worried about him nor concentrating on the opposition, including the parties that have recently mushroomed.”

Magashule could not be reached for comment. – Staff Reporter

THE Free State government is pinning its hopes for an economic boom on a multi-billion-rand natural gas project in the province that is expected to drive local industrialisation and create jobs and other knock-on opportunities.

Spanning 187 000 hectares of gas fields across the towns of Welkom, Virginia and Theunissen, the project is set to position South Africa as one of the world’s leading suppliers of liquified natural gas (LNG) and helium.

This has given the Free State – which has always emphasised business opportunities exist in the province on account of its central location and proximity to all major provinces in the country – a new selling point as it seeks to attract investors.

“The location is a strategic issue in the sense that in itself for whatever product it provides those advantages and that’s why we have been making emphasis around it,” Thabo Meeko, the MEC for Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, told The Free Stater in an interview on the sidelines of the Free State Investment Conference held in Bloemfontein this week.

“But surely there are things which underpin that understanding,” he added.

“One of it is that we have just discovered that the Free State has got large areas of gas and, standing here today, we can indicate that infrastructure has been built up to a billion-rand investment.

“The project is going into the second phase at around R50 billion for that gas exploration.

“Our leverage as government is certainly job creation and also the benefit of the local economy.”

Renergen the company that holds the production and exploration rights for the gas fields, successfully produced liquid helium from the plant for the first time in January 2023.

The first phase of the Virginia Gas Project was expected to produce around 350 kilogrammes of helium per day – enough to satisfy all of South Africa’s requirements and still have excess.

Its second phase, which is which is anticipated to come online in 2027, is expected to ramp up production to 4.2 tonnes per day – producing somewhere between six and eight percent of the world’s global helium supply.

As part of its efforts to exploit the potential for significant economic benefits and job growth from the project, the Free State provincial government is looking to secure Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status for the gas fields.

SEZs within South Africa are geographically designated areas set aside for specifically targeted economic activities to promote economic growth and exports by using support measures to attract foreign and domestic investments and technology.

“We have already applied together with the municipality for a special economic zone for the sole purpose of building the capacity around an industrial park and that’s where the leverage is going to be upscaled in the sense that we will now be dealing with the processing of that gas,” Meeko said .

“We have been schooled that out of helium you can derive quite a whole lot of beneficiation – gas to energy is one of them and, secondly, (the manufacture of) micro-chips and micro-conductors.

“That is why as part of the building up to this investment conference we undertook international trips to China and Singapore in particular.

“Subsequent to that, we engaged many ambassadors including Qatar as you know their economy is based on gas so that we build capacity as a response of government working together with investors on how we leverage the local economy and job creation.” – Staff Reporter