Scopa digs into procurement controversy
THE Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has questioned the provincial treasury about risks flagged by the auditor-general (AG), who asked how the Transport and Public Works Department received services from the Red Ants Security Relocation and Eviction Services without following due procurement processes.
In the province, the Red Ants are exclusively contracted to the Human Settlements Department, and Scopa was following up on the AG’s concerns which led to the AG flagging the incident as a risk while auditing the Transport and Public Works Department’s 2020/2021 annual reports.
During the briefing, the provincial treasury was made to explain the general sourcing and implementation of transversal departmental contracts such as cleaning contracts, which are utilised by the province, and how these differ from the Red Ants sourcing matter.
Scopa chairperson Lulama Mvimbi wanted to know whether there had been a process to be followed that was ignored or overlooked between the departments.
“It looks like one of those instances where financial people are disagreeing among themselves, except in this instance, it is the provincial treasury and the AG.”
EFF MPL Melikhaya Xego asked for clarity on the problem between the provincial treasury and AG with regard to the process followed by the two departments.
“Was it in line with due process, and what is the current understanding now, going forward?”
He said the public did not want to keep seeing incidents where different arms of the state took each other to the courts to get interpretations of rules and regulations.
Committee member Andricus van der Westhuizen (DA) said situations where an instruction note from the treasury was issued and then needed to be amended or explained and sometimes retracted did not bode well for general management quality and certainty. He said clear guidelines were necessary when it came to financial issues.
Asset Management chief director Isaac Smith said the Red Ants tender was a department-specific procurement, and it was only the Human Settlements Department that tendered for their services.
He denied that the Transport Department had been piggybacking on the Human Settlements Department’s procurement and explained that as a result of the pandemic, there had been relaxations from the treasury when dealing with procurement.
“The pandemic brought different dynamics to the table. There was also a need from the Transport and Public Works Department for the guarding of properties, and they approached Human Settlements to do this on their behalf. Hence the payments between the two departments,” Smith said.
He said the main contributor to the irregular expenditure was isolated instances of non-compliance with procurement requirements that emanated from national Treasury instructions and circulars.
Western Cape director-general Harry Malila said the provincial executive committee had put processes in place in all the provincial departments on how to deal with issues such as this one in the future. “As a government we have been responsive while sticking to our good governance practices.”