The spending of public funds without adhering to prescribed legislation continues to rise, with irregular expenditure climbing from R27-billion last year to more than R62-billion in March this year.
This was revealed by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu’s consolidated report on audit outcomes of all national and provincial government departments for the 2013-14 financial year, which he tabled in parliament yesterday.
The report shows that 72% of the 469 national and provincial government departments and public entities were simply not complying with laws that govern the spending of taxpayers’ money, such as the Public Finance Management Act.
Makwetu said it was concerning that a huge number (309) of these national and provincial departments and entities were responsible for a staggering R62.7-billion in irregular expenditure, which means there was a deliberate flouting of flaws for potentially sinister reasons.
He said 47% of the irregular expenditure, or R29-billion, stemmed from previous years but was only uncovered for the first time this year. The Auditor-General said it was worrying that culprits in the reckless spending were big-spending provincial departments of health, education, roads and public works, which were at the coalface of delivery.
Makwetu fingered the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape as main offenders, with the four being responsible for irregular expenditure to the tune of more than R10-billion, and the embattled department of transport and its national roads agency Sanral accounting for over R3-billion.
The irregular expenditure related to the procurements of goods and services without competitive bidding taking place and the flouting of other procurement processes.
Makwetu said the government needed to recruit skilled and qualified financial managers to contain the problem. “The many departments that are about impacting the services that are delivered are the ones that are failing the audit tests.
“They are the ones that have to deal with a lot of logistical detail in delivering the services that they do.
“So if the systems of transparent procurement as well transparent financial management are not strong in those areas, the chances are that those resources will continue to have this cloud that they’re not properly managed,” he said.
Makwetu called for government ministers and directors-general of departments to take punitive steps against responsible technocrats.
ANC MP Cedric Frolic, who is the chairman of committees in the National Assembly, said parliament’s oversight committee needed to start ensuring that offending civil servants are held to account, including public shaming.
Only 119 departments and public entities received clean audits in the last financial year.
Irregular spending soars to R62bn
This was revealed by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu’s consolidated report on audit outcomes of all national and provincial government departments for the 2013-14 financial year, which he tabled in parliament yesterday.
The report shows that 72% of the 469 national and provincial government departments and public entities were simply not complying with laws that govern the spending of taxpayers’ money, such as the Public Finance Management Act.
Makwetu said it was concerning that a huge number (309) of these national and provincial departments and entities were responsible for a staggering R62.7-billion in irregular expenditure, which means there was a deliberate flouting of flaws for potentially sinister reasons.
He said 47% of the irregular expenditure, or R29-billion, stemmed from previous years but was only uncovered for the first time this year. The Auditor-General said it was worrying that culprits in the reckless spending were big-spending provincial departments of health, education, roads and public works, which were at the coalface of delivery.
Makwetu fingered the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape as main offenders, with the four being responsible for irregular expenditure to the tune of more than R10-billion, and the embattled department of transport and its national roads agency Sanral accounting for over R3-billion.
The irregular expenditure related to the procurements of goods and services without competitive bidding taking place and the flouting of other procurement processes.
Makwetu said the government needed to recruit skilled and qualified financial managers to contain the problem. “The many departments that are about impacting the services that are delivered are the ones that are failing the audit tests.
“They are the ones that have to deal with a lot of logistical detail in delivering the services that they do.
“So if the systems of transparent procurement as well transparent financial management are not strong in those areas, the chances are that those resources will continue to have this cloud that they’re not properly managed,” he said.
Makwetu called for government ministers and directors-general of departments to take punitive steps against responsible technocrats.
ANC MP Cedric Frolic, who is the chairman of committees in the National Assembly, said parliament’s oversight committee needed to start ensuring that offending civil servants are held to account, including public shaming.
Only 119 departments and public entities received clean audits in the last financial year.
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