Report on municipal Covid-19 spending released
The items identified under potential irregular spend and financial loss have been handed to the City’s Integrity and Investigations Unit for further investigations.
A COMPREHENSIVE report on the Covid-19 expenditure was tabled by the chair of the audit committee, Nala Mhlongo, at an eThekwini Municipality executive committee meeting this week.
The report submitted included management responses and action plans to rectify controls and deficiencies for review.
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eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela in a press statement said the final audit indicates that a total of R456 583 170 million was spent during the lockdown period with a potential R75 043 505 million in irregular expenditure and R11 150 812 million in potential financial loss.
“The items identified under potential irregular spend and financial loss have been handed to the City’s Integrity and Investigations Unit (CIIU) for further investigations,” said Mayisela
Speaking on the report, Mhlongo said the audit revealed that the “implementation of the internal control system regarding procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic requires improvement”.
Mhlongo confirmed that basic internal controls were not adhered to.
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“Concerns were also raised on the delays that were experienced by the internal audit team in obtaining requested information, and responses to findings which were only provided after a long period of time, despite ongoing requests,” added Mayisela.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda urged stressed the importance of internal control measures.
He assured the public that consequence management will be implemented “based on the outcomes of the CIIU investigations with the possibility of criminal charges”.
He urged the CIIU to expedite the investigations into the matters raised and requested a feedback report by the end of March.
All the items and documents related to the Covid-19 expenditure have also been submitted for further investigation to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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