Jane Sithole MPL – DA Mpumalamga Provincial Leader
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane to investigate possible fraud and supply chain misconduct that may have led to over R13 billion of Mpumalanga taxpayers’ money being unaccounted for in recent years.
According to the recent Auditor General’s (AG) Report: fruitless, wasteful, unauthorised and irregular expenditure by the ANC-led Mpumalanga government entities increased from R10.844 billion in 2017/18 to R13.353 billion this current 2018/2019 financial year. The AG said this could be as a result of allegations of possible fraud and supply chain misconduct (SCM) among 7 auditees.
He said the top 5 contributors to the amount above were:
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- Human Settlements- R4.138 billion
- Health- R4.043 billion
- Education- R2.066 billion.
- Community Safety Security and Liaison (CSSL) – R1.541 billion
- MEGA- R494 million.
The concerned AG said three of the above five entities did not investigate all instances of prior years of irregular expenditure.
The AG further noted that irregular expenditure in Mpumalanga for the 2018/19 financial year alone increased from R2.218 billion to R2.734 billion. He said 95% of that was due to non-compliance with SCM policy and legislation.
He mentioned the following entities as the biggest culprits to the R2.734 billion irregular expenditure:
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- Human Settlements with R1.193 billion
- Community Safety, Security and Liaison- R435 million
- Education- R414 million
- And the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) with R173 million.
The DA will write to the Office of Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane asking her to urgently investigate this matter, failing which, we will liaise with the AG office requesting him to investigate the province using new powers as contained in the Public Audit Amendment Act No 5 of 2018.
Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane must urgently investigate and deal decisively with anyone who should be found responsible for the irregular expenditure and wasteful expenditure. They must be made to account to the people of the province about their money.
While the ANC abandons the people and squanders money that should go towards improving the lives of millions of South Africans, the DA where it governs, like in Tshwane, the City of Johannesburg, and in the Western Cape, continues to prioritise what the people voted us into power to do, and that is to serve them with dignity and account for every cent of public money.