Guidelines to prevent theft of public funds
AUDITOR-GENERAL Kimi Makwetu and the National Treasury’s director-general Dondo Mogajane have joined forces to prevent the misappropriation of public funds in all government institutions and public entities.
Yesterday, the two parties released guidelines for all government institutions to follow in the fields of procurement, proper administration and employment – particularly suitably qualified personnel in key posts.
The guide was authored with the assistance of various players including chartered accountants in their bid to foster a culture of accountability in all spheres of government.
According to Makwetu and Mogajane the document is expected to be used by political office bearers for ministers and MECs, HoDs and CFOs, including all other decision-makers in government.
“Re-establishing accountability in recent times, South Africans have been numbed by the staggering numbers of wasteful, fruitless, unauthorised and irregular expenditure. This is the type of expenditure that should not be tolerated by citizens, whatever technical justifications are attached to their occurrence. The very existence of such expenditure suggests that those who persistently incur it, are not bothered for as long as there is no accountability or consequences,” Makwetu said.
South Africa has been exposed to many projects that were abandoned midstream and suppliers were being paid far more than what they were initially engaged for, he said.
“Extensions and variations on contracts without following prescribed regulations are prevalent and pervasive. There is a widespread lack of proper and verifiable documentation to substantiate commitments and transactions entered into.
“The many laws that govern public finances in South Africa are all clear as to the responsibilities of those charged with the administration and superintendence of these finances. They even stretch to the extent of prescribing certain sanctions should deviant behaviour persist. The leadership outside the administrative functions is assigned the most significant role, with a clear emphasis on preventing and correcting wrongdoing and the flagrant disregard of financial management disciplines,” Makwetu said.
“After 15 years of persistent disregard of our audit findings and recommendations, the amendment of the Public Audit Act became the only plausible option,” he said.
The act was preceded by many years of initiatives by the audit office – from door-to-door campaigns at all municipalities between 2009 and 2012 to regular briefings of all ministers, accounting officers, members of Parliament, premiers, members of executive councils, municipal councils, audit
committees, accounting authorities and various other bodies across the country.
Makwetu said he is empowered, once a material irregularity has been identified or is suspected during an audit performed under this act, to refer any such material irregularity to a relevant public body for investigation, to take appropriate legally binding remedial action and/ or issue a certificate of debt where an accounting officer or accounting authority has failed to comply with the remedial action.
“If the whole of government invests in activating preventive controls across the key areas of accountability, it will not be necessary to set in motion these new powers. If properly designed and implemented, such controls will detect most material irregularities that could result in a financial loss.
“These controls are proactive and are an eloquent expression of the key guards being at their posts at all times. This is relatively cheaper than relying on investigations that will be triggered after money has changed hands in ways that are not credible or transparent,” Makwetu said.