A-G: Only 23% clean audits in NC

THE AUDITOR-GENERAL’S latest report into the state audit outcomes for government departments and entities has seen the Northern Cape receiving a 23% clean audit srate, while the Western Cape and Gauteng continue their top showing, with 83% and 52% clean audits, respectively.

Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu also said in his report yesterday that the Northern Cape education department overspent its budget by R123 million, while the health department overspent its budget by R100 million.

He said the provincial departments of health in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State are so broke they are already running at a deficit.

“The total deficit of the health departments stood at R8.4 billion. All the health departments except the Western Cape and Free State had claims against them that were more than their 2018/19 operational budget,” said Makwetu.

Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation this year boasted the dubious distinction of leading government departments when it came to unauthorised expenditure.

Figures released by Makwetu on the consolidated national and provincial audit outcomes showed that the Department of Water and Sanitation had disclosed unauthorised expenditure of R526 million.

He said while audit results of 43 “auditees” had improved, these improvements were overshadowed by the 73 which had regressed from the previous year.

The Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation is essentially bankrupt, and according to the A-G, an amount of R392 (75% of the money overspent) resulted from exceeded the budget for goods and services, and payments to the war on leaks programme.

Last month the Department of Water and Sanitation confirmed that it had racked up R6.1 billion in debt, R1.6bn for the 2018/2018 financial year.