Safety and security close to receiving AG’s thumbs-up

POLOKWANE – The department of safety, security and liaison was congratulated by the safety, security and liaison portfolio committee on receiving an unqualified audit opinion with findings from the Auditor-General’s (AG) office.

An unqualified opinion with findings is given when the AG concludes that although the financial statements give a true and fair view in general, significant errors or risks in the department’s financial information was found.

The portfolio committee chairperson, Pitsi Moloto, called on the head of department, Nchabeng Tsebe, to continue the good work and good governance, and focus on issues identified by the AG. The department was told to develop an action plan to address the findings so that they would get an unqualified (clean) audit opinion next year.

The committee was worried about the department’s tendency to underspend during the first quarter of each year and the high spending during the fourth quarter, and said the department should do planning, so as to start spending the budget immediately when it was available.

The department was cautioned to pay its service providers within the prescribed 30-day period. They requested that the Limpopo police did a presentation on late reporting of crime statistics. Another issue touched upon was officials still doing business with other departments, as was picked up by the AG’s office.

Tsebe said the department was closely monitoring the AG’s findings and said the issue of a clean audit was a standing item within the department and they had cleared nearly all issues mentioned by the AG.

She explained that the high expenditure during the last quarter was a result of a national safety campaign usually held in February, as well as school campaigns when the schools reopened each year, causing the department to spend more money during that period.

Systems were put in place to monitor the 30-day payments but the payment system was not working well during the last two months of the period audited, causing problems with timeous payment of debtors, she explained.

The issue of government officials doing remunerative work for other departments was addressed and steps were taken against all officers within the department, she confirmed. She told the committee that reminders were sent out from time to time to personnel about doing business with government, and no member of the personnel could use the excuse of not knowing that it was not allowed.

Tsebe was asked by committee members to be proactive in taking action against liquor outlets close to schools.

In turn she asked the committee to assist in the legislature to raise the question of accommodation for officials at rural police stations, and the provisioning of a building in which court cases could be heard in Polokwane, as the transportation of prisoners to outlying courts take up a lot of police officials’ time.

She also pleaded for victim-friendly facilities, as victims of crimes sometimes have to stay for weeks on end at police stations because there are no alternative facilities to accommodate them.

Both the department and the portfolio committee agreed that the meeting had been extremely constructive.