The Auditor General Needs to do its job and urgently issue certificates of debt
24 October 2024
It’s been half a decade since the Auditor General was granted the power to hold individual government officials responsible by issuing a certificate of debt. However, following questions from the DA, it came to light at Tuesday''s Standing Committee of Appropriations that not a single certificate has ever been issued.
A certificate of debt is a certificate issued to an official ordering them to pay back the money for this or previous years’ losses.
There has surely been no shortage of opportunities to do so. Thanks to the otherwise good work of the Auditor General, we know that 87 percent of municipalities failed to achieve a clean audit. On a provincial and national level, the auditor general reported last year that material irregularities resulted in over R14 billion in financial loss. Yet not a single official has been issued with a certificate of debt.
The DA appreciates that certificates of debt are the last resort in the auditor general’s accountability arsenal and that the other steps take time to complete. However, we find it highly unlikely given the scope of corruption in South Africa that half a decade later, officials have always implemented remedial actions, and it was never appropriate to issue a certificate of debt.