Party to ask minister to put dept under administration

COPE said that it will write to Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, to ask him to consider placing the Northern Cape Department of Health under administration in terms of Section 100 of the Constitution.

The party’s provincial chairman, Fred Wyngaard, said yesterday it was “incredibly worrying” that the department contributed 41 percent to the R2.4 billion that was irregularly spent in the Province.

Wyngaard also said that “the time has come” for national intervention into that department and others, whose audit outcomes stagnated or regressed in the past financial year.

“Service delivery is suffering as a result of poor financial management. There is a direct correlation between poor audit outcomes and a lack of service delivery. Audit outcomes are not just about accountability in terms of rands and cents, but also accountability to the community.

“Secondly, we reiterate that Operation Clean Audit can be thrown out of the window. There is a lack of accountability and a lack of leadership and ethical management on the part of those entrusted with public funds.”

Impunity

Wyngaard said that laws governing financial management were being “transgressed with impunity” and said it was not in the interest of service delivery “to hand out government contracts to your family members like Christmas gifts”.

Cope Member of the Provincial Legislature, Pakes Dikgetsi, added that the irregular expenditure showed the cumulative effect of the issues raised in the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature.

“The Mental Health Hospital, Maloof Cup, government’s diamond buying, the Lefatshe Technologies contract . . .”

He decried a lack of accountability in the Legislature, adding that the Acting Premier did not arrive for Questions to the Premier session on Tuesday afternoon.

“However, we won’t tire from asking questions to the executive and using the powers we have as enshrined in the Constitution, despite the fact that in the Legislature, we are ignored by the provincial government.”

Wyngaard added that the Speaker and the chairpersons of portfolio committees should also be blamed for the provincial finances, “because they protect the executive authority and do not hold the executive to account for poor performance,” he said.