Treasury paints bleak picture of education setup

A SENIOR official tasked to take charge of the finances of the Eastern Cape education department is not confident the department will improve its audit outcome in the current financial year.

Sizakele Netshilaphala, who had been seconded from Treasury to the education department as part of the provincial government’s initiative to help the ailing department overcome its financial woes, painted a bleak picture of the department’s progress at a standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) sitting at the Bhisho legislature on Tuesday.

“We are becoming worse before getting better. That’s my honest view,” Netshilaphala said.

She said the department was hamstrung by a lack of personnel in crucial sections including: ● Internal controls; ● Internal audits; ● Human resources; and ● Risk management. Netshilaphala said the department was faced with a plethora of challenges, which included not knowing how much its commitments totalled financially, and the total of its accruals from previous financial years, due to missing documents.

This was confirmed by an official from the office of the provincial auditorwho said a lack of documents and an inability to determine the amounts concerning commitments and accruals placed the department at “risk of regressing”.

The official was responding to a statement by acting superintendentgeneral Ray Tywakadi that there were indications of improvements in the department.

“We’ve even improved matric results and we have not gone down,” said Tywakadi.

He said the department was faced with the challenge of continued changes in leadership, which negatively affected its top managers.

“These people have been battered and at times sidelined ... by those who come in. They have been alienated and were never given a chance to show their skills. I’ve come across managers who are willing to work and have reputable experience, [a] high level of qualifications and expertise. They are no fly-by-nights.”

However, Scopa’s Mxolisi Dimaza was not impressed.

“I won’t accept that statement. It is an excuse. What you are saying is that when there is a change of the head of department, the department must close down.”

He said top managers had a duty to perform their duties as required by legislation and should not be affected by a change of leadership.

Another Scopa member, Sicelo Gqobana, said the situation in the department did not improve although its budget continued to increase.

“Instability at the head office results in lack of support for districts. The problem with education is the culture of doing things. Leadership needs to be firm when others resist. You are begging each other [rather than showing authority].”

Scopa members complained about a report submitted by education that was filled with inaccuracies, questioning whether it was a product of a meeting held by top management.