- Auditor General’s recommendations ignored by Mpumalanga Government
- The Mpumalanga Government has paid nearly R224 million to officials who have been on suspension for years.
- Mpumalanga Government failing to implement consequence management and compliance
Date: 06 October 2026
Release: immediate
The DA calls on ANC-led Mpumalanga Government to introduce automated procurement systems that automatically track tenders, flag irregular transactions, and create a transparent record of every procurement decision. This is after the Auditor General (AG) lambasted them for lack of consequence management which led to the province recording a massive R6,78 billion worth of unauthorized, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure accumulated in the last three financial years.
According to a recent Provincial Audit Outcome for 2025/2026, which was submitted to the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature last week, the AG noted the following amounts of irregular expenditures in the last three financial years:
- In 2023/2024, Mpumalanga had R2.01 billion worth of irregular expenditure
- In 2024,2025 financial year, it was R1.51 billion worth of irregular expenditure
- And in 2025/2026 financial year, the irregular expenditure escalated to R3.26 billion.
The AG mentioned that the provincial government does not implement consequence management for departments and entities that repeat material non-compliance with key legislation, leading to the unauthorized, irregular, and the fruitless and wasteful expenditures we see today.
The AG has also raised concerns that the Mpumalanga Government has paid nearly R224 million to officials who have been on suspension for years. The Provincial Department of Health was identified as the biggest culprit, with R218,86 million paid to suspended officials. They are followed by the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) which has paid R3 million to its former Chief Executive Officer when he was still under suspension for alleged involvement in a R380 million ghost tender in connection with the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountain World Heritage Site.
The DA welcomes the AG’s recommendation that the provincial government, political, and administrative leaders must consider institutionalizing controls and accountability, and also work together with departments and entities to break the cycle of weaknesses by strengthening accountability and monitoring the implementation of corrective actions.
The DA is also calling for the Provincial Government to introduce the automated procurement processes which will help to strengthen compliance, prevent corruption, and ensure greater transparency in departments, municipalities and entities. We also call for stricter consequence management and forensic investigations to get to the bottom line of these irregular expenditures.
We have seen that persistent failures in consequence management and compliance withing the Mpumalanga Provincial Government continue to undermine progress in terms of service delivery.
Improvement in financial management leads to better service delivery. We want an accountable and clean government.