DRAMA erupted in Bhisho when education MEC Mandla Makupula was instructed to charge senior administrative officials for presenting inaccurate budget figures to a portfolio committee meeting.
The meeting deadlocked and presentations of crucial programmes were suspended.
The department delegation, led by Makupula, was presenting the department’s plans and budget allocations for programmes to be implemented in the current financial year.
Among senior officials present was newly-appointed superintendent-general Mthunywa Ngonzo.
Last year in November, while discussing the department’s annual report, officials were chased out of the committee after they presented incorrect figures .
Committee chairman Mzoleli Mrara held nothing back when he told the department it needed to get its “house in order” following a presentation from Philisa Mdikane, former chief financial officer (CFO) and now head of the department’s strategic planning and monitoring unit.
The position of CFO is now held by Henry Isaacs.
“We forewarned the department that we will have a zero tolerance approach on this and we are going to act without doing any favours,” Mrara said.
He instructed officials to do their “work perfectly” in their areas of operation.
“We will continue to strengthen this committee and we are going to bring our own experts to ensure that there is no fumble .”
Mrara said the committee had constantly had to deal with inaccurate numbers from the department for the past four years. “We had a caucus as a committee to analyse this persistency and had to take a decision because we are public representatives.
“The recent national auditor- general’s comments have accused committees .
“In fact this whole mess-up passes through committees.
“What we pass here gets passed in the House (provincial parliament) and gets detected by the AG later.
“We’ve taken a decision that we want to be clinical this time around,” Mrara said, adding that representatives from the provincial treasury would be roped in to attend committee meetings in future.
Earlier, Mrara ordered officials out of the committee room where the meeting was held, directing them to a nearby room to resolve inaccuracies in budget allocations.
The discrepancies were picked up by COPE provincial chairman Sam Kwelita, who realised that allocations stated in the department’s presentations were incorrect and did not match those contained in the provincial treasury report on budget estimates for government departments.
Kwelita said discrepancies in the allocations amounted to thousands of rands of taxpayers’ money unaccounted for.
Makupula said he accepted the decision to charge the officials, adding that his office would conduct an investigation on the matter.
“We have no option but to go back and we will comply with the decision of the committee.”
Ngonzo said he accepted the decision of the committee and his team would comply with it. —
Bhisho cracks down on figure ‘fumbling’
The meeting deadlocked and presentations of crucial programmes were suspended.
The department delegation, led by Makupula, was presenting the department’s plans and budget allocations for programmes to be implemented in the current financial year.
Among senior officials present was newly-appointed superintendent-general Mthunywa Ngonzo.
Last year in November, while discussing the department’s annual report, officials were chased out of the committee after they presented incorrect figures .
Committee chairman Mzoleli Mrara held nothing back when he told the department it needed to get its “house in order” following a presentation from Philisa Mdikane, former chief financial officer (CFO) and now head of the department’s strategic planning and monitoring unit.
The position of CFO is now held by Henry Isaacs.
“We forewarned the department that we will have a zero tolerance approach on this and we are going to act without doing any favours,” Mrara said.
He instructed officials to do their “work perfectly” in their areas of operation.
“We will continue to strengthen this committee and we are going to bring our own experts to ensure that there is no fumble .”
Mrara said the committee had constantly had to deal with inaccurate numbers from the department for the past four years. “We had a caucus as a committee to analyse this persistency and had to take a decision because we are public representatives.
“The recent national auditor- general’s comments have accused committees .
“In fact this whole mess-up passes through committees.
“What we pass here gets passed in the House (provincial parliament) and gets detected by the AG later.
“We’ve taken a decision that we want to be clinical this time around,” Mrara said, adding that representatives from the provincial treasury would be roped in to attend committee meetings in future.
Earlier, Mrara ordered officials out of the committee room where the meeting was held, directing them to a nearby room to resolve inaccuracies in budget allocations.
The discrepancies were picked up by COPE provincial chairman Sam Kwelita, who realised that allocations stated in the department’s presentations were incorrect and did not match those contained in the provincial treasury report on budget estimates for government departments.
Kwelita said discrepancies in the allocations amounted to thousands of rands of taxpayers’ money unaccounted for.
Makupula said he accepted the decision to charge the officials, adding that his office would conduct an investigation on the matter.
“We have no option but to go back and we will comply with the decision of the committee.”
Ngonzo said he accepted the decision of the committee and his team would comply with it. —
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