Mokonyane ‘behind tender deviation’
• Auditor-general tells MPs about problems at the Department of Water
Treasury officials and AuditorGeneral Kimi Makwetu on Tuesday detailed in Parliament how the Department of Water and Sanitation went on a tender deviation spree while Nomvula Mokonyane was at the helm, in the process splurging billions of rand, leaving the department in financial distress.
Treasury officials and AuditorGeneral Kimi Makwetu on Tuesday spelled out in Parliament how the Department of Water and Sanitation went on a tender deviation spree while Nomvula Mokonyane was at the helm. In the process they splurged billions of rand in excessive project management and professional fees, leaving the department in financial distress.
The department was also riddled with leadership instability and a skills crisis, which had compounded its woes.
The deviations had resulted in the department forking out on excessive construction costs as its fruitless and wasteful expenditure skyrocketed, while it had outsourced its procurement to a private company.
Damningly, the Department of Water and Sanitation had not consulted the Treasury, as is required, when it deviated from prescribed tender processes, MPs were told on Tuesday during a joint sitting of the standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on water and sanitation.
The Treasury has previously told Parliament about departments using deviations, invoking emergencies that did not exist, as a means to bypass procurement regulations.
Mokonyane is now the communications minister.
The state of affairs at the Department of Water and Sanitation has caused alarm among MPs who exercise oversight over it, as well as the Treasury and Makwetu’s office.
The briefing, which included an in-camera address by officials from the Special Investigatduplicate ing Unit, is part of preparations by MPs for a full-scale inquiry into the department.
The department has not only incurred billions of rand in irregular expenditure but also has a R2.9bn overdraft that it took with the Reserve Bank.
In addition, MPs were concerned about the Giyani project, whose budget was R2.8bn, up from R2.5bn, but little progress had been made to complete the project.
Also of concern were the Nandoni pipeline project, which had cost R690m, and the Mopani emergency project, on which R465m had been spent.
Since 2014-15, irregular expenditure incurred by the department had risen, Makwetu told MPs.
“The financial position [of the department] is a strain to the fiscus … we are where we are largely because of deviations over the year[s] — things like payments, spending on projects that are not budgeted for, payments for projects that are not complete. We see a lot of irregular expenditure and overpayments,” said Makwetu.
Instability at leadership level was part of the reason the department had poor internal financial controls, he said.
The department has had different acting directors-general for almost five years, and individuals had been appointed on an acting capacity in crucial roles for periods ranging from six months to just over year.
Makwetu said his office was yet to meet new Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti.
MPs who attended Tuesday’s meeting noted with concern that the department had too many deputy directors-general and that some of them were not suitably qualified, with some only possessing a grade 12.
The department also had three chief financial officers.
Treasury officials told MPs that the trend over the years was the department would commit to projects without a proper budget in place and the department also had no sound cash management.
The department is to respond to MPs on Wednesday.
THE FINANCIAL POSITION [OF THE DEPARTMENT] IS A STRAIN TO THE FISCUS