Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on Wednesday dismissed calls for lifestyle audits of politicians as populist, and declined to comment on the furore over tenders given to companies linked to African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema.

Answering questions in the National Assembly, Motlanthe stressed that lifestyle audits were a special measure used by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) to investigate more than 10 000 individuals in the past two years.

He said that anybody who harboured suspicions about an individual could blow the whistle to the tax service, possibly triggering such an audit.

But existing corruption laws and regulations on disclosure of assets and interests for Cabinet members, Members of Parliament (MPs) and their spouses, did not need to be backed up by routine audits.

"In the light of the above, Cabinet has not considered lifestyle audits as it is clear that there are all these measures already in place," Motlanthe said.

His reply echoed a recent rebuff by President Jacob Zuma to calls by alliance partner the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for lifestyle audits to target politicians who are enriching themselves.

"It is a term in vogue now, but if the mechanisms to conduct such lifestyle audits are not in place we can also create other difficulties, and the public representatives are already subjected to all these measures," Motlanthe said as one opposition party after the other endorsed the call.

"Where we are aware that there is an individual who has ill-begotten wealth, the agencies are there; there is even an Asset Forfeiture Unit that can seize or impound that ill-begotten wealth."

Julie Killian of the Congress of the People asked Motlanthe whether he agreed that awarding tenders to companies directed by Malema and the controversy over the ANC's expected profits from power plants through Chancellor House "is setting the wrong trend".

The Deputy President said that he could not comment on Malema, who reportedly made millions from tenders in Limpopo province, as he did not have the facts.

"The matter of Mr Julius Malema, I would not get into that because I suppose that is a matter that is being attended to elsewhere. I am not familiar with those facts there."

But, he defended Chancellor House's right to pursue profitable deals.

The ANC's investment company is expected to earn billions from Hitachi Power Africa's contracts on Eskom's new power plants.

The deal has seen the opposition accuse the ruling party of profiting from the hefty electricity price hikes announced last month to fund the power utility's build programme.

Said Motlanthe: "Chancellor House and the company that is contracted to construct power stations, whether that could lead, or borders on, sending a wrong, or a negative message to the public, is a moot question for the simple reason that, as I understand it, once a corporate company is incorporated it is free to pursue whatever opportunity."

Motlanthe told MPs that government was aware that the State's tender system "is not foolproof" and said that he had talked to Zuma on Monday about ways of monitoring whether companies contracted by the state were doing a good job.

"I agree that there is a need to bring about better efficiency in the way tenders are adjudicated ... Once a tender is awarded to people with no capacity to deliver, it is the people who suffer at the end, so we must seriously find ways of resolving this problem."

He said that the relevant ministry should be able to check on a monthly basis on contract work to ensure "we don't become aware of the problem when all the money has been expended and the quality of the product borders on the criminal, basically".

Motlanthe added that the inter-ministerial committee on corruption was dealing with both quality control and better application of the rules.

"My belief is that we have in place all measures necessary to stamp out crooked ways of adjudicating tenders and so on," he said.

"But as we know human beings are very difficult animals."