POLITICS

DA govt in audit chaos – ANC WCape

Provincial dept of agriculture refused to comply with legislation to finally submit its reports on time for AG to check on it

DA government in audit chaos 

11 October 2017 

The ANC wants an investigation by national government into the Western Cape government’s negligence to fully submit its reports to the Auditor General (AG) of South Africa.

The provincial department of agriculture refused to comply with legislation to finally submit its reports on time for the AG to check on it.

This failure resulted in the provincial legislature to be idle today when Scopa (standing committee on public accounts) and the portfolio committee were scheduled to scrutinise this report the whole day. The AG was also set to brief the legislature on the outcomes of its examination into the work of this critical department.

ANC Western Cape spokesperson on Scopa Siyazi Tyatyam says: “The DA-run Western Cape government did not get an overall ‘clean’ audit as is claimed. The AG’s work is not even completed as the agricultural report is still due. The AG cannot sign off on the audit of agriculture as there is nothing final submitted as a result of the provincial government’s negligence.

“The department fabricated an excuse that it disputes certain terminology of the AG, but cannot hide behind that reason not to table its report to the legislature. Agriculture MEC Alan Winde let the legislature down as he failed to ensure the report is handed in, but instead shields his department from proper inspection on how it spent public money.

“It seems there is chaos in Winde’s ill-disciplined department. Could this just be an attempt to avoid responsibility for some AG findings against the department or is it a matter of the department attempting to bully the AG into giving it a so-called clean audit? The latter seems to be the Western Cape’s usual way of ensuring more positive results than what it deserves.

“The ruse to claim ‘clean’ audits is further exposed by the fact that the department of health is still not getting a clean bill of health under MEC Nomafrench Mbombo and the department of human settlements under provincial DA leader (MEC) Bonginkosi Madikizela regressed the last financial year as both received outcomes with findings by the AG.”

The ANC says the national departments must take back as much as possible of the functions of these three provincial departments as it is mostly duplicating the work initiated by national government.

Issued by Cobus Grobler on behalf of the ANC WCape, 11 October 2017