Johannesburg - Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu believes the decision by departments to listen to his advice to cut down on consultants has resulted in the reduction of this type of expenditure.
Makwetu, who was speaking to The Star prior to the release of his municipal audit report next Monday, said if consultants were used, there had to be a justifiable reason.
Consultants have cost the government billions of rand in the past few years, leading to President Jacob Zuma calling for an end to this practice, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Several members of Parliament in the ruling party and opposition benches have also condemned the practice.
The auditor-general found that, between 2008 and 2011, departments and state entities had spent R102 billion on consultants. In his last report, Makwetu found that the state had forked out R30bn on consultants in 2012. But he said things were beginning to take shape with departments and entities reducing the bill of consultants.
“We keep emphasising that if they are going to somebody external, there must be proper monitoring mechanisms,” Makwetu pointed out.
He said this would ensure that state departments received value for money from consultants.
Parliament has called on several occasions for the practice to end, with portfolio committees warning that consultants ended up duplicating the work of officials employed in departments and entities.
Makwetu was also happy with Parliament scrutinising all the departments’ budgets.
He had attended several debates in Parliament month where budgets were examined by MPs, he said.
He added that the level of engagement had shown that no department had been spared having its finances probed, down to the last cent used.
“There has been a lot of emphasis on the medium-term expenditure framework and (we have been) rigorous on what we raise in our reports, for instance in things like the use of consultants,” he said.
Strengthening the capability of departments had also come to the attention of MPs during the budget vote debates.
Parliament has to pass all the departments’ budgets before funds can be rolled out for the current financial year.
Makwetu said it was a positive of the national legislature to nail the budgets of departments to ensure proper accountability.
He and members of his office had been visiting all the provinces to ensure that the municipal finance management structures had been adhering to the rules.
Political Bureau