SAPS asks SIU to second staff for lifestyle audits of senior managers

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has formally asked the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to second personnel to help conduct lifestyle audits on its senior management service (SMS) members, the acting Police Minister told Parliament.

Formal request and current status

Acting Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia said the National Commissioner signed a formal request on 5 August 2025, which was submitted on 6 August 2025, asking for the secondment of SIU personnel to support SAPS in conducting lifestyle audits. Cachalia said engagement processes with the SIU have been initiated, but that “the secondment and full operationalisation of this support remain in progress.”

The SIU’s response was that it “has held several meetings with the SAPS on the lifestyle audit, but no formal agreement has been signed,” according to SIU spokesperson Selby Makgotho.

Scope of recent checks and disclosures

Cachalia told Parliament that lifestyle assessments, including reviews and audits, have been conducted within SAPS over the past five years. He gave the following figures:

• 4,608 financial disclosures of SMS members verified over the past five years;
• 450 lifestyle reviews conducted during the same period;
• 42,935 disclosures by non-SMS members during the past five years.

He also said that based on lifestyle investigations conducted for SMS members, no cases escalated to full lifestyle audits during the last five years.

Ongoing reviews and investigations

Cachalia said one senior manager at the rank of lieutenant-general did not submit a financial disclosure during the 2024/2025 financial year and that the senior manager “was on suspension.”

He reported that 1,227 lifestyle reviews were in progress from the 2024/25 financial year. Of 72 cases referred for lifestyle investigation in 2025/26, further investigations were ongoing in 30 cases on SMS members, and four lifestyle investigations were in progress for non-SMS members in risk areas.

Since April this year, Cachalia said a total of 737 SMS members’ financial disclosures have been verified, with 122 currently undergoing lifestyle reviews.

Discrepancies and potential conflicts of interest

Cachalia revealed that over 100 SMS members were identified as potentially having conflicts of interest because of their involvement in companies that were not registered on the Central Supplier Database and were not conducting business with the state.

He also listed specific discrepancies found in disclosures:

• At least 23 employees had vehicle-related discrepancies;
• Three employees had discrepancies related to property ownership;
• Fifteen employees had discrepancies relating to both vehicle and property ownership;
• One employee displayed a questionable pattern of taking personal loans;
• Another employee had both vehicle ownership issues and a suspicious pattern of taking personal loans;
• One employee had discrepancies related to both vehicle ownership and company directorship.

Parliamentary reaction

DA MP Lisa Schickerling said the SAPS’s formal request for SIU assistance “suggested that the organisation has recognised that it lacked sufficient internal capacity to conduct the lifestyle audits comprehensively.”

Schickerling added that, given ongoing concerns about corruption within SAPS, the intervention “is both necessary and long overdue.” She warned that the large number of potential conflicts of interest and reported discrepancies in disclosures are “precisely the type of red flags that lifestyle audits are intended to identify and investigate.”

What comes next

Cachalia’s account to Parliament indicates that SAPS has begun engaging the SIU and continues internal re-vetting of SMS members, including lifestyle audits conducted by the State Security Agency. The formal secondment of SIU personnel and a binding agreement between the two bodies have not been completed, according to statements provided to Parliament.