‘Withhold budgets from inept depts’

The ANC has called for the withholding of budget allocations for government departments and state entities that continually produce disappointing results in their financial audits.

The party said the rise in irregular expenditure to R45 billion for the 2016-17 financial year was shameless and a brazen disregard for accountability and commitment to clean governance. The figure could rise to about R66 billion as the outcomes of other auditees were yet to be released.

According to Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu, pictured, who released the results on Wednesday, audits were done on 422 departments and entities in the previous financial year.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said strong consequence management must be implemented for the lapses and failures.

“Such measures must include taking all necessary steps to recoup from liable parties the irregular expenditure, the identification of serial offenders and the implementation of measures to withhold their budget allocations until internal controls are sufficiently tightened.

“Finally, ensuring the strict enforcement of legislated consequences for transgressions, including responsible officials reporting cases of irregular expenditure that constitute a crime to the South African Police Service,” Kodwa said.

The party expressed appreciation of the AG’s work regarding the management of public funds, the implementation of policies and compliance with key legislation and welcomed the increase in clean audit outcomes rising from 113 entities in 2015-16 126 entities. However, the party expressed disappointment at the regression from the previous outcomes by some departments.

“Continuing deterioration in the audit outcomes of state-owned companies requires decisive leadership and urgent action,” Kodwa said.