Busi’s office in R43 million hole

REPORT: ‘DOUBT ON ABILITY OF PUBLIC PROTECTOR’S OFFICE TO CONTINUE’

Report casts doubt on ability of public protector to continue.

Mkhwebane says budget allocation is not nearly enough to watch over 1 000 organs of state.

A“staggering” case load, budget constraints, repeat offender government departments and a worry from the auditor-general (AG) that the office of the public protector may collapse under financial strain.

These were some of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s problems in her presentation of her annual report for 2017/18 yesterday to the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services.

Contained in the report were grim statements by the AG, including “a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the constitutional institution’s ability to continue as a going concern”. However, it noted it was unlikely because of its status as a constitutional body.

“In preparing the financial statements, the accounting officer is responsible for assessing the public protector South Africa’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters relating to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the accounting officer either intends to liquidate the constitutional institutional or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so,” the AG wrote.

Mkhwebane said while she was grateful for the budget allocation, it was not “nearly enough for an institution that watches over more than 1 000 organs of state”.

Part of the problem was that effective and appropriate steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure amounting to nearly R20 million in the 2017-18 financial year, bringing the total balance to nearly R43 million.

“Current liabilities exceed current assets by R41 700 683,” the report stated.

“A lot of the irregular expenditure was as a result of lack of proper contract extensions and failure to obtain approval of deviations from relevant authorities or delegated officials,” said Mkhwebane’s spokesperson Oupa Segelwe.

“Exacerbating the problem was the fact that our supply chain management unit was severely undercapacitated. This somehow compromised segregation of duties, enforcement of compliance and monitoring. While the contracts entered into during the 17-18 year were irregular, they are still legally binding on us and have to be honoured.”

Segelwe noted nine officials who were affected by the transactions in question were requested to explain their roles and reasons for failing to comply with the relevant prescripts as part of investigations.

“Their responses have been received and management is in the process of assessing these and where grounds for disciplinary action exist, such action will be taken. This process is expected to be completed by October 31, 2018.” –