Mismanagement of public funds a big issue, says new Scopa chair

Newly-elected chair of parliament’s watchdog Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) Songezo Zibi said the mismanagement of public funds is a big issue than what people give credit for.

The leader of Rise Mzansi was elected the chair of Scopa, continuing the tradition of giving the post to an opposition politician.

Rise Mzansi said Scopa “can best be described as a super oversight committee” since it interrogates how taxpayers’ money is spent.

Money mismanagement

Zibi who took over from the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) Mkhuleko Hlengwa, who now serves as deputy minister of transport, told 702 that he wants Scopa to become the “most boring committee in parliament” because it “performs so well”.

“I can speak about trends, but the mismanagement of funds is a much, much bigger issue than people give credit for. So, the money is not stolen, but the purpose for which it was used was not good enough. The outcomes were not there even though people may have dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s at the beginning.

“The management of that investment of the public investment has been very poor and we need to work on remedial actions. We need to start seeing publication institutions and officials coming to Scopa and say ‘you berated us a year ago. Here’s where we are, we’ve done the work, these are the outcomes and if the auditor-general confirms for instance, you have to give those people credit,” Zibi said.

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Oversight

He said he does not believe there is adequate quality oversight of public resources, including at municipal level.

“It has put South Africans in a very difficult position and we need all three spheres of government to fire on all cylinders and use the money well.”

Zibi said from his interactions with MP’s in the government of national unity (GNU), “something has got to change”.

“This is a crossroads for South Africa, and if we do not make the right turn, two things will happen: South Africans will suffer even more and if political parties don’t do the work as we have been mandated by the Constitution, South Africans will be very unhappy and continue to punish political parties at the polls,” he said.

Zibi said the Economic Freedom Fighters which opposed his election do not have a problem with him personally, but rather that the chairperson of Scopa should have been elected from a party that is not involved with the GNU at all.

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