Audit chief’s man there all along

ITHOUGHT I had seen it all, but there are times when even I am nonplussed by the antics of this government.

A little while ago I applied in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) for sight of a forensic report conducted by accounting firm Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo into the affairs of SA Express, the state-owned short-haul airline. In particular, the report was to examine the withdrawn annual financial statement for last year. Readers will know I have suggested there is a R500m hole in the accounts.

The application was forwarded to the Department of Public Enterprises. It declined to let me see the forensic report because, among other things, the information passed to Gobodo was confidential and because an individual was named. Then, anticipating my next move, which was to apply to the courts, the agile minister, Malusi Gigaba, announced he had asked the auditorgeneral to examine SA Express.

That stopped any legal application because a court would logically say, wait for the auditor-general’s opinion. But it also suggests Gigaba is sufficiently concerned to want the state’s highest accounting officer to tell him what’s going on. Then, extraordinarily, Gigaba announces that SA Express’s board has approved the 2011 financial statements.

Chairwoman Lillian Boyle says a representative of the auditor-general has been attending meetings of SA Express’s audit and risk management committee since February, which raises still more eyebrows.

In other words, the auditorgeneral knew all along about the decisions to withdraw the annual financials and to appoint a forensic investigation. And if his representative was present during directors’ risk meetings, why did Gigaba find it necessary to ask the auditor-general to examine the company? Boyle has declined to release the financials.

It is all very peculiar and getting to the bottom of it is proving to be quite an exercise.