SIU

Matlala previously conducted business with Mr Morgan Maumela who was a director of CAT VIP protection; the business is under SIU investigation leading to self-incrimination concerns.

“Hangwani Morgan Maumela is my friend and a person who I have previously conducted business with . At a point in time , he was a director of CAT VIP protection .”

There are established working relationships and specific agreements among agencies such as SARS, NPA and SIU to manage investigations and operations.

“There is even, for example, a tripartite between SARS, the NPA, and I think the SIU.”

The SIU is invited to assist where there are issues of procurement and/or contracts to determine legitimacy of contracts and decide on further criminal investigations or recouping money for the department.

“we also invite SIU where there are issues of procurement and/or contracts ... they do assist us ... determine legitimacy of those contracts ... SIU is able to deal with that contract ... recouping the money ... because that is generally part of that mandate”

IDAC does not have mandate to investigate some matters but refers such matters to other agencies such as detectives, DPCI, or SIU, and informs complainants where to approach for recourse.

“whilst this does not comply with IDAC's mandate, you are able to refer this matter to the detectives, we are writing to... We inform the complainant where they can go to, and then we also write to the agency that we are able to send it to”

The Acting Minister of Police indicated in a recent Parliamentary question that lifestyle audits within SAPS have not yet been conducted but are still under discussion with SIU to second officials to perform these audits.

“My understanding is that no lifestyle audits have been conducted within SAPS as of yet ... I think it was last week ... where the Acting Minister of Police indicated that they were still in discussions with the SIU to second officials to SAPS to do these lifestyle audits for them.”

Persons conducting lifestyle audits, whether private auditors or SIU auditors seconded to SAPS, have no statutory powers to collect information from financial institutions and rely entirely on information voluntarily provided by the person being audited.

“whether they are conducted by private auditors or by SIU auditors seconded to SAPS, the persons conducting lifestyle audits have no statutory powers to collect information from financial institutions . So they depend entirely on information that is voluntarily provided by the person they are auditing”

The SIU has not yet been seconded to SAPS to support lifestyle audits as of 5 June 2026, despite a formal request by the National Commissioner on 5 August 2025.

“the South African police service has formally engaged the special investigating unit to assist with independent lifestyle audits . The National Commissioner signed a formal request on 5 August 2025 , which was submitted on 6 August 2025 , requesting the secondment of SIU personnel to support SAPS in conducting lifestyle audits . As of 5 June , the SIU has not yet been seconded to SAPS to support lifestyle audits .”

Court processes in South Africa are sometimes slower than desired, making it less effective to prove criminal conduct for unexplained wealth offenses through the courts and suggesting administrative or civil penalties for non-conviction based confiscation instead.

“our court processes are sometimes much slower than we would want and clogging them up with this kind of offence to prove criminal conduct for unexplained wealth is perhaps not the best approach. And I think we can use, for example, the SIU’s special tribunal as an example of a civil process that is much more efficient at doing something like this for this kind of confiscation or penalties. And so my suggestion is rather to focus on these kinds of administrative or civil penalties for non-conviction based confiscation.”

The current framework addressing corruption prevention in South Africa is fragmentary and incremental approaches have reached limitations; a substantive overhaul with a dedicated corruption prevention agency is needed.

“a lot of the fragmentation and weaknesses that we see in the current framework are a result of incremental attempts to improve the system ... the system in its current form has reached the limit of incremental improvements and has reached a point where you need the more substantive overhaul of how these functions are dispersed”

Recommendations for further investigation or disciplinary action by the SIU lifestyle audit are ultimately given to the head of department to consider and act upon or ignore, allowing possible conflicts of interest especially if officials themselves are implicated in corrupt networks.

“Even in cases where the SIU is seconded to conduct lifestyle audits, their recommendations for further investigation or disciplinary action are ultimately given to the head of department to consider and take forward or ignore... It might be that this official themselves are implicated in the corrupt network... I think it strengthens the argument for why you need some level of arm's length scrutiny”