Delay in vetting of officials is costing the country a fortune
PARLIAMENT’S finance watchdog wants the country’s spies to vet officials sitting on hundreds of billions worth of tenders without delay, as they fear irregular expenditure could spiral out of control.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts said yesterday the State Security Agency (SSA) had not been able to vet officials for years – despite a decision by the Cabinet in 2014.
But the SSA said it was reviewing its processes and would soon be finalising the vetting systems.
Scopa chairperson Themba Godi said they had been waiting since last year for the SSA to finalise regulations which would oblige officials in procurement to be vetted.
The SSA told Scopa last November it would introduce regulations to compel officials to be vetted after some of the state-owned entities had refused to undergo vetting. These included the SABC, SAA and Transnet.
Transnet had informed Scopa that out of 750 officials in supply chain management, only 56 had been vetted.
Scopa said this would not be permitted, as SOEs had made deviations worth R74bn last year alone. Supply chain management was the centre of corruption, said Scopa.
Godi said yesterday they wanted regulations so that the SSA could help root out corruption in the state.
He said officials in procurement were sitting on tenders worth R500bn a year. “It cannot be that you have over R500bn procurement by the state and the ethics of those in supply chain management is not confirmed. We need to make sure regulations are completed and vetting gets under way,” said Godi.
The SSA said vetting was demanded by the law. “The vetting of government departments is an ongoing exercise, as required by law. However, it should be noted that the entire SSA approach to vetting is under review, and once finalised, the relevant authorities will be informed,” said the SSA.
Scopa had also raised concern that corruption was rife in departments and municipalities because of the rise in irregular expenditure.
Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu found that irregular expenditure had increased in municipalities and departments of both provincial administrations and national government.
In his report in May, Makwetu found that irregular expenditure in municipalities had increased from R16bn to R28bn. In another report on the audit findings of national and provincial departments, the AG found that irregular expenditure rose from R46bn to R51bn.