. Contracts were also awarded to close family members of employees and councillors. Regulation 45 of the SCM regulates that the awards of more than R2000 must be disclosed in the financial statements of the auditee for the sake of transparency. A close family member is defined as a spouse, child or parent of a person in the service of the state. The irregular expenditure of awards made to close family members of persons in service of the auditee amount to R227 million;