Cape Town - Government departments and state entities have come under fire from the Auditor-General for poor performance and failing to jack up their systems to comply with the law in the issuing of tenders.
This was after Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu found that only 25 percent of departments and entities received clean audits during 2013/14.
Makwetu, who was releasing the report on the performance of departments at national level and provinces in Parliament on Wednesday, said it was perturbing that 72 percent of the departments and entities did not comply with the law when it came to supply-chain management.
While a mere 22 percent of departments and entities received clean audits last year, the figure had improved slightly to 25 percent this year. However, this was better than the paltry 16 percent in 2012.
Makwetu said that out of the 469 audited departments and entities this year, 119 had received clean audits. This amounted to 25 percent, which was an improvement on last year’s performance.
Makwetu also found that in the provinces, the situation also improved, with Gauteng and the Western Cape leading the way.
While 11 departments received clean audits in the Western Cape last year, the picture changed this year, with 18 departments getting clean audits.
In Gauteng, the number of departments with clean audits had increased from eight last year to 19.
Improvements were also noted in the Northern Cape, from one department to five; the Eastern Cape, from one to five; and Mpumalanga, from three departments to five.
In KwaZulu-Natal, however, the departments regressed. While there were 14 departments that received clean audits last year, the figure dropped to nine.
In the other provinces,the situation remained the same.
Makwetu also mentioned the high number of departments not complying with the law when it came to issuing tenders.
He said the fact that 72 percent of the departments and entities did not comply with the law was regrettable.
“If auditees could address the material misstatements in their submitted financial statements, non-compliance with supply-chain management legislation and recurring unauthorised spending, as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure, these outcomes would improve,” he said.
House chairman in the National Assembly Cedric Frolick told a media briefing that they continued to battle with weak internal controls in departments and entities.
He said some of the departments remained in the red zone, and it was the duty of Parliament, as the oversight authority, to rein in these departments.
Frolick added that provinces which had done well must send encouraging messages to poorly performing provinces to get qualified finance officers.
He warned that lack of consequences has permeated across departments, with officials failing to comply with the law being left unpunished.
Before action is taken against an official, they jump ship and move to another department, he said.
Frolick described this asa symptom that would ultimately destroy the fibre of departments.
He also said that to rein in departments was not only the duty of the standing committee on public accounts, but portfolio committees too.
The portfolio committees would have to get to the nuts and bolts of the finances of departments and root out wrongdoing.
They were happy that the budget office in Parliament would help the committees to scrutinise spending in all state departments and entities, Frolick added.
Political Bureau