Irregular expenditure could double to R94 billion, says DA

THE DA has warned that irregular expenditure could rise to R94 billion as some departments and state entities have yet to submit their annual reports to Parliament.

Yesterday, the party released shocking figures of irregular expenditure by government departments and state entities which it said stood at R72.6bn.

This comes after the party analysed the 2017/18 annual reports of government departments and selected entities that have been tabled in Parliament.

DA spokesperson Natasha Mazzone said the figures showed shocking financial mismanagement and wasted funds by the ANC-led government.

“When government spending cannot be properly tracked, it becomes much easier to cover up corruption and directly enables state capture,” Mazonne said.

The DA’s analysis showed total irregular expenditure stood at a staggering level of R72.6 billion, she said.

“The composite analysis compiled last year by the DA revealed that total irregular expenditure, across all departments and entities, stood at R42.8bn.

“The figure for the most recent year is double what was incurred in the previous year. And that does not include all departments and entities as some are yet to table their reports,” she said.

The DA’s figures showed that Eskom recorded R19.6bn in irregular expenditure, followed by the SANational Roads Agency (Sanral) at R10.5bn, Transnet R8.1bn, Department of Water and Sanitation R6.2bn, SABC R5bn, Water Trading Entity R4.9bn and the Department of Correctional Services at R3.2bn.

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the SABC was considered to be commercially insolvent. He also said the office of the public protector, that was supposed to protect citizens from corruption, reported an R18 million financial loss and almost doubled irregular expenditure. The DA speculated that the total amount of money spent irregularly could rise to R94.5bn and R4bn in wasteful expenditure.

It also said endless bailouts of the most corrupt state-owned entities have drained public funds, requiring a VAT increase hitting the poor the hardest. Steenhuisen said the country’s finances were in a dire state. “Not only did the ANC get us to this point, but they have no plan to fix what they have broken.” AUDITOR-General Kimi Makwetu has slammed the Arts and Culture Department for not furnishing adequate evidence for its social cohesion advocates for auditing purposes. This emerged in the department’s annual report recently tabled in Parliament.

Makwetu said he could not obtain sufficient audit evidence for the number of social cohesion platforms organised by the department in 2017/18.

The department had said in its annual report that 10 social platforms were planned but 22 were ultimately conducted, including during the Vuwani unrest where social cohesion advocates were deployed.

But Makwetu said there was no evidence that social cohesion advocates were appointed and or approved.

He made the same finding on community arts projects financially supported by the department, as well as artists placed in schools. The department claimed to have supported 150