Health department's irregular expenditure bill hits R5.7 billion
Today, in a meeting of the Health Portfolio Committee, it was revealed that the Department of Health incurred irregular expenditure of R5.8 billion in 2010/11. This accounts for 25% of total national government irregular expenditure for 2010/11.
I will today be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Mr Monwabisi Bevan Goqwana to request that the Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, comes before the committee to account for his department's poor financial management.
The Department of Health's financial affairs are in a worrying state. This year, it received a qualified audit, and the Auditor General is currently probing a number of instances of poor financial management.
These include:
- A departmental official who travelled abroad at the state's expense, without ministerial approval;
- Fraudulent transactions to the tune of R845 196 involving the department's travel agency;
- Fraud in the procurement of health promotion materials costing over R80 000.