Source: Republic of South Africa: The Parliament |

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and Standing Committee on Appropriations (Scoa) want Ministers and Directors-General held responsible for appalling audit outcomes

The two committees received a briefing from the Auditor-General today on the national and provincial audit outcomes for the 2017/18 financial year

The committees are concerned about the increase of irregular expenditure for the year under review to R50 billion

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, October 10, 2018/APO Group/ --

A joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) and the Standing Committee on Appropriations (Scoa) has emphasised that Cabinet ministers and directors-general who are failing to do their duties as stipulated in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) should be held responsible for the appalling audit outcomes of their departments and entities.

The two committees received a briefing from the Auditor-General today on the national and provincial audit outcomes for the 2017/18 financial year. The committees are concerned about the increase of irregular expenditure for the year under review to R50 billion. This shows that some departments are still not adhering to the PFMA. The committees are also concerned about the number of state-owned entities that have not submitted their audit outcomes. Entities such as the South African Airways (SAA) and its subsidiaries, SA Express, and Denel and its subsidiaries are some of the entities that have outstanding audits. Another concern is the continuation of negative audit outcomes in entities such as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the South African Forest Company and its subsidiaries.

The committees want to commend the work that is done by the Auditor-General, and in the same breath, want to stress that all the various agencies and levels of the state should do their duties to ensure that the picture of audit outcomes changes from this negative picture to a positive one. It is important for Members of Parliament to do their part, the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer should do its work so that there could be an impact of their work and the Department of Public Service and Administration when it comes to the type of people employed in these positions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.