Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, says there is a bid to cut down on fruitless and wasteful expenditure across government.
She said a number of measures have been taken to ensure that departments and entities are able to reduce fruitless and wasteful expenditure and that the money is used prudently.
The government has in the last few years been slammed for irregular and wasteful expenditure.
But Ramokgopa said in the last reports of the Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, there have been signs that there are fewer cases of this nature.
Ramokgopa, who was replying to a written parliamentary question from DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, said they wanted to get more departments and entities to cut down on fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
"The 2021/22 report of the Auditor-General shows that public sector institutions disclosed fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R5,83 billion over the past three years of the current administration. In 2020/21 financial year, public sector institutions incurred R1,72 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This was a decline from the 2019/20 financial year, when R2,23bn in fruitless and wasteful expenditure was incurred. Whilst challenges persist, the report notes that a discernible improvement trajectory has been established.
"According to the 2021/22 report of the Auditor-General, audit outcomes have shown a gradual upward trend since the previous administration’s term ended, with 114 institutions improving whilst 46 regressed. During the 2021/22 financial year, 312 out of 424 public sector institutions achieved unqualified audit opinion (128 clean and 184 unqualified with findings). This translates into 74% (30% clean and 44 unqualified with findings). If this trend can be maintained, the target of 75% of auditees achieving an unqualified audit opinion would be achieved by 2024," said Ramokgopa.
The auditor-general has over the years painted a picture of an increase in fruitless and wasteful expenditure across all spheres of government due to a lack of internal controls.
The Public Audit Act gave the auditor-general powers to crackdown against corruption in the public sector.
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