Limpopo pleased with two clean audits
The province is also the most improved province with regards to audits in the country
POLOKWANE – The Auditor-General (AG) presented the Limpopo Audit outcomes for the 2016/17 financial year on Thursday, 14 September during the provincial government’s Executive Council (Exco) in-house meeting.
During the meeting the AG announced the province has improved significantly from the 2015/16 report, with two clean audits: One by Treasury and the other by the Limpopo Gambling Board.
The province is also the most improved province with regards to audits in the country, with six auditees having received improved audit reports.
Twelve auditees remained unchanged and three auditees, the Department of Agriculture, Limpopo Economic Development Agency (Leda) and the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA), have regressed.
The following departments and state entities received unqualified reports with findings: Office of the Premier, Legislature, Safety, Social Development, Transport, Corridor Mining Resources, Great North Transport and Venteco.
Eight departments (Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Health, Public Works, Sports, Arts and Culture, Agriculture, CoGHSTA and LEDA) received qualified reports with findings. Last year there was no clean audits and in 2014/15 one auditee, the Office of the Premier obtained a clean audit.
Asked why the three auditees regressed, MEC for Treasury, Rob Tooley said CoGHSTA regressed as a result of the purchasing of land above its value, the Department of Agriculture as a result of assets and non-credibility of its asset register and Leda because of the credibility of its asset register.
Issues such as non-adherence to and irregularities in supply management legislation and regulations, asset registers and government officials doing business with departments still abound in the government sector. A sample of 11 key projects audited has shown irregularities in the supply chain management process in 67% of these audits and 7% of grants money was not used for its intended purpose.
Irregular expenditure, of which 16 auditees account for 76% of the irregular expenditure, amounted to R1 479 million in the 2016/17 financial year, while fruitless and wasteful expenditure also increased from R44 million in 2015/16 to R139 million in 2016/17.
The leadership of auditees’ internal control were a matter of concern for the AG’s office in 81% of auditees and 10% of auditees’ financial and performance management were found to need interventions.
