A-G laments lack of action despite waste

THE AUDITOR-General has raised concerns on no action being taken against officials who did not curb fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the Gauteng health department.

In his report, as part of the department’s annual report, Kimi Makwetu lamented that there were no processes to stop the waste of state funds.

“Effective and appropriate steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure amounting to R1 703 204 117, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounting to R37 918 086 as required by the Public Finance Municipal Act (PFMA) and treasury regulation.

“The majority of the irregular expenditure was caused by procurement of goods and services without following competitive bidding processes, and for fruitless and wasteful expenditure is due to interest levied on overdue accounts.”

Makwetu lamented that, despite the loss of the money, no action was taken against officials.

His report states: “Disciplinary steps were not taken against the officials who had incurred or permitted irregular expenditure, as required by PFMA. Disciplinary steps are not taken against the officials who contravene the laws and regulations.

“This resulted in repeated non-compliance with key laws and regulations, the annual financial statements and annual performance report.”

Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa said she was worried about not achieving a clean audit, adding that there were plans in place to improve.

“We are going to strengthen our relationship with the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants in this regard and we are tightening management accountability at a district level, as well as head office.

“We were not tolerant of under-performance and non-accountability. That is why many of those managers who could not take the pressure left,” Ramokgopa said.

DA Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said: “The A-G says that effective and appropriate steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure of R1.7bn and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R38m.

“But no disciplinary steps were taken against officials who incurred or permitted irregular expenditure.”