Deadline for dept to act on AG’s orders
The department of defence and military veterans has until end of March to implement the auditor-general’s (AG) recommendations after purchasing medical equipment it could not use.
This was revealed by AG Tsakani Maluleke in a briefing to the standing committee of the auditor-general on material irregularities in national and provincial government yesterday.
The AG flagged the irregularity in April 2023 after medical equipment was purchased when the department did not have qualified medical staff to operate it.
“If by the end of March, the department has not resolved this material irregularity, we will move on to either referrals or to taking binding remedial action, which is doable only in a court of law,” said Maluleke.
“We always emphasise that we need not get to that point, because by the time we get to a recommendation, there has been ample opportunity for the accounting officers and the executives and parliament to be acquainted with the matter and to take the necessary steps in line with their own given powers or authority.”
The AG has previously referred two material irregularities in the department for further investigation. Material irregularity is any noncompliance with, or contravention of legislation, fraud, theft or a breach of a fiduciary duty identified during an audit, that resulted in or is likely to result in a material financial loss, the misuse or loss of a material public resource or substantial harm to the general public.
Since 2018, the AG has identified 266 cases of noncompliance and suspected fraud resulting in material financial loss in government. Only R1.29 billion of it has been recovered.
According to the AG, over R500 million is in the process of being prevented as loss, while R700 million is in the process of being recovered. “As important as the protecting of R2.5 billion that has been protected is, because that money goes back into service delivery, the trick to driving better performance and use of public resources is to invest in preventative controls,” said Maluleke.
Although she was optimistic about the recovery of public funds, Maluleke called on authorities, including the president and premiers, parliament and legislatures, to address common indicators that lead to irregularities.
These bodies must insist on accounting officers and authorities to address identified irregularities and monitor the progress made in resolving them. “While it’s pleasing to see this level of responsiveness from internal auditors, our concern is that, in at least 82% of the instances, no action was being taken.”