MBOMBELA – The premier, Mr David Mabuza refused to answer questions about the criminal charges against finance minister Mr Pravin Gordhan on Tuesday. Gordhan visited the provincial government to discuss its finances this week.
“No, if the question is not related to our subject today, then it must not be asked. Let us not deviate. Let’s follow what is the business of the day,” said Mabuza, a known supporter of the president Mr Jacob Zuma.
Gordhan acquiesced, saying it was “Mabuza’s house”. The minister commended the premier for what he deemed his “proactive approach” to savings initiatives.
“What is commendable, is the premier’s proactive approach that says we are now living in a challenging economic environment, with no abundance of fiscal resources available, therefore we must live within our means.
As a provincial government, we must undertake as many savings as we can. We must not put an unnecessary pressure on the national fiscus,” he said.
Gordhan said national and provincial governments needed to work together to improve growth prospects by making it an inclusive economy.
However, opposition parties disagree with Mabuza’s approach. The Auditor General’s (AG) audit outcomes showed that the provincial government incurred irregular expenditure of R4 billion in 2015/16, an increase from the R2,3 billion incurred in 2014/15.
According to the report, the greatest contributors to irregular expenditure were the departments of health with R1,9 billion, human settlements with R1,1 billion and education with R355 million.
The AG said a lack of consequences to the transgressors made it acceptable for implicated parties not to comply with legislation.
It also said leadership’s tolerance to non-compliance resulted in increasing irregular expenditure. Furthermore, only three departments and one public entity achieved clean audit opinions.
Another R34,6 million was incurred through fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
EFF leader, Mr Collen Sedibe, said the provincial government should be placed under curatorship.
“The fact that the administration has been regressing over the past three years was a sign of a non-functioning government,” he said.
Sedibe added that the party would open cases of fraud and corruption against officials implicated in the irregular expenditure.
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DA leader Mr James Masango said measures needed to be implemented to ensure departments submitted quality annual financial statements to the AG.
“As long as there is a lack of political will to institute consequence management, a lack of fraud risk indicators and little competencies of bid specification committees, socio-economic prosperity in the province will remain stagnant,” he said.
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Spokesman for the Office of the Premier, Mr Zibonelo Mncwango, said the EFF was playing a political game to tarnish Mabuza’s image despite the good faith expressed by Gordhan.
“We will never be put under administration because our finances are sound. We are collecting revenue and we are also spending in accordance,” he said.
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Mncwango added the provincial government was in the process to make those involved in irregular spending accountable.
“As a government we will always follow prescripts to make sure that we adhere to good governance. Due processes are in place to recover the money from those involved in fruitless expenditure,” he said.
