Scopa slams Mogajane for collapse of R1.2bn financial system

It was a torrid day for National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane yesterday as members of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) tore into him over the collapse of the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

The IFMS was supposed to replace old software with new, which would standardise software throughout government. The software would handle gov- ernment’s financial, human resources, payroll, supply chain and logistics management.

Started in 2005 and with more than R1.2 billion already spent on the project, which reportedly had little risk control in terms of managing payments, National Treasury’s audit committee requested its former director-general, Lungisa Fuzile, to open a forensic investigation into the Integrated Financial Management System.

The results of this investigation landed Mogajane before Scopa and ANC MP Nyami Booi wasn’t taking prisoners.

“One billion is not peanuts. It’s not your money, it’s not my money, it belongs to the people of South Africa,” said Booi.

“That money could have been used to build houses.”

Describing the challenges of implementation, Mogajane spoke of antiquated technology, lack of experience, “significant” delays during different phases of the project and institutional challenges around how Treasury worked with the State Information Technology Agency (Sita).

“Again, Sita was not able to capacitate itself in line with software development that was necessary at that point in time,” Mogojane said.

“It also became very clear that integration of the various disparate systems at the time posed a formidable obstacle to the successful and cost-effective implementation of the project.

“It was 10 years trying to work on something that was not there. Expertise in the Treasury at this time was nonexistent.”

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said Treasury, in relation to the IFMS, needed to come up with a comprehensive response as to how it would deal with the problem.

“The buck stops with me and I take full responsibility for what has to happen in order to ensure the problems that are here are properly addressed,” said Gigaba.

In May, Treasury issued a reminder in the form of a national instruction to government departments to not buy software which would duplicate the IFMS function.