MBOMBELA – Attaining Operation Clean Audit by 2014 is falling into the hands of provincial treasury. There are only four months left of the financial year. Only three provincial departments recently obtained clean-audit opinions from the Auditor General for the 2013/14 year. In total the entire province accumulated fruitless and irregular expenditure amounting to R1 billion.
In reply to a question by ANC MPL Mr Johanne Mkhatshwa in legislature last week, premier Mr David Mabuza said poor audit outcomes were a consequence of poor leadership and management. “Provincial treasury has been tasked to provide comprehensive support to all departments to ensure that they all achieve clean audits.”
The departments of cooperative governance, social development and finance were the only ones to receive clean audits in 2013/14. “Provincial departments had made significant progress in enhancing drivers and internal controls. There has been notable progress in leadership and governance, financial management and performance management,” according to Mabuza.
His own office regressed from the previous year obtaining an unqualified, with findings, audit outcome along with the departments of education, human settlements, public works, culture, economic development, environmental affairs and legislature.
Mr Collen Sedibe, EFF provincial leader, said previously during a snap debate on the outcomes in legislature, “It is very disconcerting and alarming that the department which is discharged with the prerogative to be an oversight organ, is also implicated in this anomaly. The most troublesome thing about this, is that it appears that there is no meaningful consequence for financial misconduct.”
Mr Anthony Benadie, DA provincial leader in turn welcomed the fact that no adverse or disclaimer of opinions was received by any department or parastatal. Yet he called it a mediocre performance.
“It is a disgrace that our departments continue to return funds to the Provincial Revenue Fund on an annual basis. This excludes conditional grant funding returned to National Treasury due to this government’s inability to deliver services.”
Mabuza told legislature that disciplinary measures would be implemented against accounting officers where they failed to improve their department’s audit findings after the support effort.
