DoE shock audit findings: Officials must start implicating their political handlers
10 September 2020
Scathing findings by the Auditor-General (A-G), following alleged irregularities around expenditure by the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Education (DoE), have exposed shocking levels of corruption in terms of Covid-19 related tenders.
The revelations, glossed over by provincial Education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu during an Education Portfolio Committee (EPC) on Tuesday, emanate from details released by the A-G and include observations of non-compliance with disaster management instruction notes and irregularities in terms of PPE pricing. This in spite of measures put in place by the National Treasury to facilitate emergency procurement during the pandemic, as well as the declaration of a national state of disaster in order to avoid abuse of the supply chain management system.
In KZN, the audit found the following transgressions, amongst others;
- That the KZN DoE procured some PPE items at prices higher than those recommended in Treasury instruction notes, which states that institutions may only procure from other suppliers as long as the prices are equal to or lower than the prices recommended as the upper limits. This has resulted in a possible irregular expenditure of approximately R316 990