Irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure during the 2012/13 financial year was exposed in Ekurhuleni via reports from its Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) reports.
Several of these reports were tabled and noted at the March meeting of the metro, held in Germiston.
A matter of concern was the overtime at the Departments of Waste Management, Water Services and Sanitation during that financial year.
Officials received between R12 900 and close to R35 000 on top of their salaries for overtime each month.
The MPA committee recommended that the department had to produce monthly reports on the overtime, and also that the Department of Internal Audit investigate the excessive overtime applied for by the officials.
In another report, MPAC listed 17 cases of unauthorised, fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure during the 2012/13 financial year.
Cases regarded as irregular include:
* The project of water restrictions as a credit control measure (R1,6-million) that was not procured through a tender process.
* Outdoor advertising (R142 842) as a conflict of interest.
* Allegations of procurement irregularities in the marketing department (R250 139).
* Alleged misconduct at Brakpan Store (R239 525).
* Two cases of procurement irregularities at Community Safety (R283 012 and R59 394).
* Kagotso Laka Academy (R20 000) was unauthorised expenditure.
* Review of suppliers’ transactions at the Department of Energy (R55 169).
* Irregularities on claiming for indigent funerals (R157 558).
The cases regarded as fruitless and wasteful include:
* An investigation of service delivery in the Department of Solid Waste Management concluded that the R28,9-m that was paid over five years constituted fruitless and wasteful spending.
* Allegations of fraud against an official for falsifying a requisition (R123 532).
* Standing time claimed during the electrification of Winnie Mandela Park (R959 991).
* Software package never implemented (R158 674).
* Air quality emission inventory software was purchased, but never implemented (R1,1-m).
* 7 860 purchased fruit trees could not be located (R1,2-m).
* Only 40 of the 85 air conditioners were installed in Edenvale. Of the 40 only 14 are in working condition (R429 020).
* Cost of data collection for residential properties (R31,3-m).
