MBOMBELA – Provincial government departments are taking no notice of the Select Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa). This is the claim by opposition parties in legislature who sit on the Scopa commitee, an oversight function of legislature. The committee asked each department which had appeared in front of it to compile accurate reports, with the exception of the Department of Social Development.
Mr Bosman Grobler, DA spokesman for Scopa, said most recently the Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation (DCSR) “eluded accountability”. “Similar to other departments meeting with Scopa, the DCSR eluded accountability and failed to compile an accurate report. During questioning it became apparent that reports were not based on facts, and disclosures were only made after they were flagged by the Auditor General (AG).
“The department failed to include irregular expenditure in the financial statements submitted to the AG, and measures to ensure that financial statements are prepared according to prescribed reporting frameworks were omitted. Responses did not correspond to questions, the department failed to institute steps and to produce a progress report on matters previously raised.”
He said this was symptomatic of the other departments’ conduct. “Like many departments before, the committee sent the DCSR back to prepare a report that met the standard expected by Scopa and put controls in place for it to have sound financial management.
“Scopa cannot move forward until the provincial departments fulfil their mandate and implement recommendations by the committee. Until there is clean, transparent and accountable governance, the citizens of Mpumalanga will continue to suffer.”
MEC for finance, Mr Eric Kholwane told Lowvelder after his budget speech that Scopa was weak as it came too late – it dealt with financial years from two to three years ago. He added that what was happening in the hearings were unfortunate.
He added that he was focused on the present. But Grobler said there was no reason why former transgressors couldn’t be held to account, despite not being in the positions they had been during, in this case, the 2012/13 financial year. “There is no political will to address this.”
EFF leader Mr Collen Sedibe said this was why ANC members of the committee had been recalled. Mr Simon Skhosana, Mr David Dube and Ms Patricia Ngobeni had been removed from the committee “because of their honest and constructive criticism”. “I think from the ANC side it worried them that their own members criticised its own.”
Mr Johanne Mkatshwa, ANC chief whip, said it made no difference which individuals sat on the committee since they worked as a team and new members were as critical as the ones who had served before them.
