The Auditor General’s 2016/17 report on the state of the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department backed up the opinion that the department was on the verge of total collapse, said the DA’s KZN spokesperson on finance Francois Rodgers in a statement yesterday.
This was following the tabling of the report for the 2016/17 financial year before the Health Portfolio Committee at the Legislature administrative building in Pietermaritzburg.
Committee members were further irked that the meeting was not able to proceed as the MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo and the Head of Department Dr Sifiso Mtshali did not attend.
Rodgers urged Premier Willies Mchunu to take action and call on the MEC to resign.
His comments echoed those of the IFP’s Ncamisile Nkwanyana who said the IFP "wondered" what the Premier says when he reads the reports about the department.
She said the numerous reports about the department showed it had collapsed.
Rodgers said the department's irregular expenditure increased from R4.3 billion to R7.1bn while fruitless and wasteful expenditure has risen from R8.9 million to just short of R15m over the last financial year.
He said there were 33 cases of improper conduct in Supply Chain Management (SCM) by suppliers, 109 cases of improper conduct in SCM by officials and 47 cases of financial misconduct.
It appeared there had been no consequence management, he said.
When contacted for comment, the premier's spokesperson Ndabe Sibiya said Mchunu would comment at the “right” time on the issues raised in the report.
The Department of Health asked for a chance to review the allegations made by political parties before it could respond.