Edu department buckles over findings of irregular expenditure
“You can’t just spend money and fail to explain. They must be accountable,” Provincial Government Spokesperson, Phuti Seloba said.
LIMPOPO – On Monday, the Provincial Treasury put the Limpopo Education Department under administration, for the second time in five years.
In the last audit report issued by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, the department’s unauthorised expenditure was R4,8 million, irregular expenditure almost a billion Rand at R994,3 million, while fruitless and wasteful expenditure stood at R72,7 million.
Underperformance, irregular expenditure, dubious supply chain management decisions and appointments among other issues led the provincial executive committee to place the department, headed by MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe, under provincial administration in terms of Section 18 of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999.
Provincial Government Spokesperson, Phuti Seloba, said the decision follows assessments made on all government departments, in which the department has been found wanting: “It is the only department which is not improving in financial terms”.
The Education Department received a disclaimer in terms of their audit report for the fourth consecutive year. Consequently, seven key government officials were deployed to resuscitate the department mainly in finance, risk management, supply chain and human resources.
“You can’t just spend money and fail to explain. They must be accountable,” Seloba said.
The Spokesperson for Provincial Treasury, Mohale Thoka, said they will be engaged in the processes henceforth until the situation improves.
“I am hopeful that this intervention will have a positive impact on the outcome in future,” said Makwetu.
Contacted for comment, Spokesperson for Education, Dr Naledzani Rasila said the relationship between Section 18 officials and departmental employees was on good footing and increasing the speed of service delivery: “There are improvements in different aspects including the delivery of books, governance and accountability,” said Rasila.
In February this year, Premier Stanley Mathabatha said he wanted to root out officials who have been appointed to positions for which they are not qualified. “Some officers were just appointed to deal with finances as they look after the stokvel money at their homes,” he stated. Asked at the time why the Education MEC was not removed from his position, the premier said Kgetjepe was “one of the powerful horses” in the province.
