Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has been slammed for spending almost R1 billion on consultants in the past financial year.
Appearing before the public accounts standing committee in the provincial legislature on Wednesday, officials were roasted for using consultants, spending irregularly, and writing off more than R150 million in fines.
Responding to committee members’ censure, the department’s chief financial officer, Wayne Evans, said consultants were used when the department “did not have the capacity” to do the work. For instance, before a road could be constructed, someone had to carry out the designs.
There was a system to reduce the numbers of consultants used. In total, the department used 38 consultants at a cost of R937 million.
Committee members said the department’s performance was so dismal in the past year that senior staff members would forfeit their next performance bonuses.
Sipho Nkosi, the acting chairman of the public accounts standing committee at the KZN legislature, said on Wednesday that in 2012/13 it took a resolution that no performance bonuses should be given to those not performing.
Nkosi reminded the committee of that resolution on Wednesday when it turned its wrath on underperforming officials.
Not only had the department performed badly according to the auditor-general’s 2014/15 report, but it had regressed from having a clean audit to a qualified audit for the past two years.
Senior departmental officials appeared before the committee to address issues raised in the report. They were bombarded with criticism from committee members.
But MEC Willies Mchunu was not there to take the heat, as he was at a Sukume Sakhe function.
DA MPL Mark Steele brought up bonuses during question time, saying bonuses of all senior staff should be withheld.
The auditor-general had found that the department had not disclosed all irregular expenditure – stated in the report to be R11.28 million.
The department’s response was that this was because goods and services worth less than R500 000 were procured without first obtaining three price quotations, and deviations from the procurement process were approved, despite its being practical to get competitive bids.
MPLs sang the same chorus – they were unhappy with the department’s responses to the findings.
The IFP’s Lionel Mtshali said there had been a breakdown of controls in the department.
ANC MPL Makhosini Nkosi said the committee had been told about procedures, manuals, training and workshops to improve, as if the department had started on Wednesday. He added that there were qualified people in the department who should be doing a better job.
“It seems as if they are doing their jobs part-time … We as politicians are accused of being corrupt, yet they are the people who are corrupt,” he said, pointing to the government officials. “These are people who are giving us a bad name.”
Members said action should be taken against non-performers.
Referring to the annual financial statements, many questions were asked, including why R1 million had been paid to the wrong supplier, why the department had written off R152 million in fines, and why R1 million for events had not been approved by the Treasury.
Evans said one party from a joint venture had invoiced the department and had been paid. Then the second had demanded the money, and the department had been taken to court and had lost. It had to pay the money. The department was trying to recover the first payment through the courts.
Fines more than two years old had to be written off, he said, adding that events had to take place on a particular date, and there was no time to get quotations approved.
His reasoning as to why goods and services costing more than R500 000 were procured without inviting competitive bids did not sit well with members. He said it was as a result of emergencies – for example, when a bridge collapsed and needed to be rebuilt quickly.
A committee member said it was not as if the contractors would start building the next day.
‘No bonus for qualified audit’
Department of Transport spokesman Nathi Sukazi said on Wednesday that MEC Willies Mchunu would adhere to Scopa’s recommendation on bonuses.
Government officials were paid according to the salary level they occupied. Senior officials were at levels 13 to 16.
A Google search for the salaries found that level 13s earned from R771 306 a year, while the level 16 salary scale could extend to R1.7 million per annum, depending on the employee’s experience.
Sukazi said the department employed about 4 000 people and each of them had signed a performance agreement.
The bonuses fell under two categories: ‘outstanding performance’, for which the employee received 10%-14% of his or her annual salary, and ‘achieved above expectation’, for which the employee would get 5%-9%.
Commenting after the hearing, the DA’s Mark Steele said senior officials who were responsible for the department’s qualified audit should automatically not get bonuses.
The Mercury
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