Billions of rands in misspent money by the public works department is shocking, Minister Thulas Nxesi said this morning.
“The public works turnaround has uncovered R34.9-billion irregular expenditure, some of which goes back as far as 2001,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
Of this total, R1.1-billion was suspected to have been lost to fraud and corruption.
“The value of irregular expenditure that is reported in the annual financial statements of both the main vote and the PMTE has increased substantially to a combined figure of R34.9bn. In a word shocking,” said Nxesi.
He said irregular transactions did not necessarily mean fraud had been committed.
“The department may have obtained value through such transactions although some technical discrepancies occurred during the procurement or payment process.”
He said the irregular expenditure was caused by incomplete documentation, incorrect approval of transactions, non-competitive bidding processes, incorrect calculations, and emergency procurement for non-emergency situations.
The matter was uncovered during the department’s review of all transactions dating back to 2009/10.
Nxesi said he would table his department’s annual report in Parliament tomorrow.
Misspent billions shocking, says Minister Nxesi
“The public works turnaround has uncovered R34.9-billion irregular expenditure, some of which goes back as far as 2001,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
Of this total, R1.1-billion was suspected to have been lost to fraud and corruption.
“The value of irregular expenditure that is reported in the annual financial statements of both the main vote and the PMTE has increased substantially to a combined figure of R34.9bn. In a word shocking,” said Nxesi.
He said irregular transactions did not necessarily mean fraud had been committed.
“The department may have obtained value through such transactions although some technical discrepancies occurred during the procurement or payment process.”
He said the irregular expenditure was caused by incomplete documentation, incorrect approval of transactions, non-competitive bidding processes, incorrect calculations, and emergency procurement for non-emergency situations.
The matter was uncovered during the department’s review of all transactions dating back to 2009/10.
Nxesi said he would table his department’s annual report in Parliament tomorrow.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos