Auditor-general flags deficiencies in financial and performance management in govt departments

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has shared concerns over limited improvements and sometimes regressing outcomes at local government level and in state-owned enterprises.

On Friday, Maluleke delivered the strategic plan and budget to outline a way forward for state organs for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025, based on the long-term strategy of the organisation.

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Repercussions of misuse of state resources

Maluleke said: “As a country and an institution, we are faced with the continuous misuse of state resources. We see persistent negative media reports about corruption in the country; we follow the work of investigative commissions such as the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, led by Judge Zondo, and the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Impropriety at the Public Investment Corporation.

“We witness the country’s downgrade by international rating agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s. These developments are indicative of the poor overall state of the country’s public service, the country’s prospects for economic development, and – ultimately – the country’s ability to meet development targets.

“For us, these developments further display persistent weaknesses in the transparency, accountability and performance of the public service,” she said.

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Greater impact by AGSA

Maluleke added that the AGSA thereby has the strategic aspiration to have a more direct impact on improving the lives of ordinary South Africans by helping to improve the public sector culture – mostly through enforcement this time.

She introduced the Theory of Change model and explained how the AGSA was planning on implementing it.

The model outlined how the AGSA would be providing better insights (by conducting regularity audits,  performance audits, information system audits and so forth), encouraging better communication channels (through various reports), exerting greater influence (through workshops, debriefs and various other platforms), and practising enforcement (through recommendations, remedial actions and issuing certificates of debt).

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AGSA’s #cultureshift2030

Maluleke said they were hoping to use audit insights to now drive a culture shift. This was key to their strategy – changing the culture of carelessness. They were therefore running a #cultureshift 2030 campaign, hoping to see the culture shift by the year 2030.

Delivering the PFMF report last week, the auditor-general said that spheres of government have been gradually improving their ability to report transparently on their finances over the term of the current administration, but there were still deficiencies in financial and performance management.

Key service delivery portfolios namely basic education, health, human settlements, public works, transport, and water and sanitation and the state-owned enterprises were said to consistently have the worst audit outcomes.