MECs and officials in the Gauteng provincial government are ready for lifestyle audits, Premier David Makhura said in his state of the province address in Soweto on Monday.

"We are awaiting the multi-disciplinary task team on life style audits being finalised by national government to be established. The presidency is to commence with us – politicians and administrators...we are ready."

President Cyril Ramaphosa called for lifestyle audits on public servants in his 2018 state of the nation address. The audits for ministers and civil servants were meant to encourage disclosure, especially on business interests, and help stop the rampant corruption in the public sector. A task team was subsequently established to develop a framework for life style audits. It is not yet known how far the team is, as the president did not provide feed back during last month's state of the nation address.

Makhura said his government would exercise strict austerity measures to contain costs, and will not tolerate poor performance.
 
"We have imposed very stringent cost containment measures on ourselves over the past five years.  We sold the official residence in 2016. We are buying no new cars for the premier and MECs. Official vehicles will only be replaced when they reach its full life cycle and we have been strict with costs," Makhura said.

"I am ready to instill the discipline of execution and perfect the art of government delivery, even if this takes a fight. We must govern like business because governing is very serious business. Poor performance will not be tolerated."

Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul was the first provincial leader to announce no new vehicles for provincial officials. Saul directed that the budget for new cars instead be used to purchase ambulances.

Makhura said he would soon sign performance agreements with MECs, which would be made available publicly.