LIMPOPO – Members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) were all but satisfied with the quality of responses from the Premier’s Office, which related to the findings of investments made with the now defunct Venda Building Society (VBS).
A more comprehensive report was ordered for submission on Friday, 31 January.
Scopa Chairperson Goodman Mitileni cautioned that the committee might order a special public hearing should the new report fail to give proper answers.
Officials from the Premier’s Office appeared before the committee last Tuesday, to answer questions on the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years and on progress made on the VBS matter.
Twelve municipalities invested a total of R2,7 billion with the bank, and a total amount of just more than R1 billion was still outstanding.
Another issue that raised eyebrows, was the seemingly deteriorating relationship between the Public Works MEC, Monicca Mochadi, and the Head of Department (HOD), Dikgole Timothy Seroka.
It was reported during the meeting that this working relationship was not “in good standing”, which led to certain unauthorised payments having been made.
Responding to this matter, the Director-General, Nape Nchabeleng, said they would meet with the MEC and HOD to resolve the matter.
The fact that the Office of the Premier had been receiving “stagnant audit outcomes for the years under review” did not impress members of Scopa, who expressed their unhappiness in no uncertain terms.
Nchabeleng said findings which contributed included irregular expenditure amounting to R3,9 million, of which R3,7 million was incurred in respect of performance incentives for employees; R222 000 on supply chain management processes; and R23 000 which was incurred in the 2013/14 financial year.
Rudolph Phala, Scopa member and former Chairperson, said provincial government is the third worst performing provincial government in the country, “because of irregular expenditure”. The committee warned against malicious compliance when preparing Annual Financial Statements and the DG assured Scopa that misstatements in the statements were corrected and the responsible officials had been given written warnings.
