​Gauteng News 
Conducting forensic investigations for alleged cases of corruption is meaningless if action is not taken by departments to resolve these allegations, says Premier David Makhura.  
"We are driven by our responsibility to the people of our province. Citizens can only trust the call to fight corruption when they have evidence that some effort is made to not only investigate their complaints but to institute disciplinary action against the implicated officials," said Makhura in his State of the Province Address. 
The Gauteng Provincial Government has collaborated with the following independent institutions: The Gauteng Ethics Advisory Council, a Civil society-led formation; the Special Investigation Unit (SIU); The Public Service Commission; The Public Protector; The Auditor General's Office and the South African Human Rights Commission.
These institutions are implementing the Gauteng City-Region Integrity Management Policy Framework - underpinned by the Gauteng Anti-Corruption Strategy founded on prevention, detection, investigation and resolution.
Cooperating with the Public Service Commission (PSC) 70 allegations involving human resource irregularities, SCM irregularities, misconduct by officials, maladministration and fraud are being investigated.
Of these, 43 cases have been resolved and closed and 27 matters are still under investigation. 
The Public Protector has been investigating 53 allegations related to the departments of Health (13), Education (11) and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (19). Of these 8 have been resolved and 45 are still under investigation. 
Thus far, the provincial government has referred 14 matters to the SIU for investigation. Of these, 7 complaints are from the Gauteng Provincial Government, 4 matters are on flagship projects, and 3 additional complaints were submitted by whistle-blowers directly to the SIU.
Makhura said government is determined to take appropriate actions based on the outcomes of the investigations to bring credibility to the anti-corruption process.
Last week, the provincial government suspended nine officials over the R588-million renovation at the Ashanti Gold Hospital, on the recommendation of the Special Investigative Unit.
"Consequence management is a key component of improving the culture of the organisation and ensuring that there are no cases of unethical behaviour.  
"Our management team comprises disciplinary action, improvement of internal controls, civil recovery and criminal prosecution."
The Premier said all members of the Executive Council are in the final phase of the State Security Agency lifestyle audits. 
Makhura said the Gauteng is the first to have undergone a lifestyle audit using the new framework developed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in line with the commitment he made in his first SONA.
Between 2014 and 2019, Gauteng made the greatest progress on audit outcomes, managing to achieve 65% clean audits and 100% unqualified audits in two successive years.
Audit outcomes, Makhura added, is yet another yardstick for accountable, transparent and improved governance. But they are also good for another reason. With each passing year, we can refer to see whether cumulatively we are making progress or not."
To prevent and combat endemic corruption practices within the tendering processes, the Gauteng Provincial Government championed procurement reform by introducing an Open Tender System.
There were further reforms that saw the introduction of the Gauteng Ethics Council;  fraud detection reviews for all tenders above 10 million rands; the signing of an integrity pact with all service providers who do business with the government; and the introduction of an e-procurement system.