Kimi Makwetu decries lack of consequences for wasteful, irregular spending
Auditor-general Kimi Makwetu has decried the lack of consequences for senior government officials and managers at state-owned entities (SOEs) responsible for millions of rand in unauthorised, fruitless, wasteful and irregular spending. Makwetu stunned MPs on Wednesday when he revealed that government departments and various SOEs were responsible for irregular spending of at least R50bn, up from about R45bn the previous year. He was presenting a briefing a joint meeting of parliament’s standing committee on public accounts and the standing committee on appropriations on the 2017-2018 audit of national and provincial departments and their entities. This comes as government scrambles to reprioritise about R50bn of its existing budget to reignite economic growth and create jobs. The worst offenders in irregular spending include the KwaZulu-Natal transport department (more than R5bn); the water trading entity (R4bn); Gauteng roads and transport (R2bn) and the department of water and sani...
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