MAKWETU EXASPERATED BY FRIVOLOUS EXPENDITURE

AUDITOR-GENERAL Kimi Makwetu (above) yesterday told MPs that the checks and balances meant to bring state entities in line on irregular expenditure were not working after this soared to R61.3 billion in the past financial year. Makwetu, with some exasperation, told a joint sitting of Parliament’s standing committees on public accounts and appropriations that state entities appeared repeatedly to flout public financing rules because they suffered no dissuasive consequences for racking-up irregular expenditure. He said it seemed to be a case of: “When there are no consequences, why must I pull out all the stops? All I get is a flag from the A-G’s office – so what?” Makwetu said Parliament’s adoption and approval of reports condemning irregular expenditure seemed to have little effect and begged the question: “Is there something different that must happen?” His report to the committees showed that the total annual sum of irregular expenditure included R18.5bn reflected in the unaudited statements of entities whose audited financial statements were still outstanding. He cautioned that the figure was not complete, because 33 entities out of the 383 whose audits were completed were qualified by his office on the basis of incomplete disclosure of irregular expenditure. The 383 entities accounted for R42.84bn of the past financial year’s irregular expenditure, and of that sum R11.52bn related to irregular payments or expenses incurred in previous years and only uncovered or disclosed in 2018/19. The main culprits in terms of irregular expenditure were KwaZulu-Natal, with R12.42bn, followed by the national government, with R11.25bn, and Gauteng, with R7.13bn. Makwetu also disclosed that the 201 entities audited had spent a collective R13bn on IT systems meant to process financial data and improve service delivery. However, 63 percent still had weak IT systems, 41 percent of IT projects had not lived up to expectations, and 88 percent of auditees had weak IT controls, increasing risk of unauthorised payments. | African News Agency (ANA)