KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has again failed to submit her departmentʼs 2020/21 Annual Report to Parliament’s Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa).
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for immediate action by provincial Premier Sihle Zikalala and provincial Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce against Simelane-Zulu, after the Scopa hearing into the departmentʼs finances had to be cancelled for a second time, on Tuesday (26 October), due to the lapse in procedure.
The DA said in a statement that it regarded the MEC and her departmentʼs failure to yet again submit the Annual Report as “an insult to the Legislature”.
“KZN Health had an essential role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with huge amounts of funding transferred from other departments to support the effort. This makes it all the more important that these funds are properly accounted for.
“The departmentʼs Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Procurement Report has already shown corruption within Supply Chain Management (SCM). Despite this damning information, the MEC and her department continue to shirk in their responsibility to account to elected public representatives.”
The DA said that the Attorney-General had already raised several “very urgent financial governance issues and mismanagement” by MEC Simelane-Zulu and her department. In its Briefing Note to SCOPA, several other worrying findings were also highlighted. These included:
– The departmentʼs audit has remained unchanged from a qualified opinion for the past five years, with no or little improvement on internal control in some instances - The root causes for this stagnation include, among others, slow response from management in addressing audit findings from prior years, the non-implementation of proper control systems for asset management, supply chain management, expenditure for goods and services, accruals payable not recognised and reporting on pre-determined objectives.
– Leadershipʼs failure to exercise adequate oversight and monitoring to ensure all laws and regulations were followed; the departmentʼs failure to fill the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
– Increased irregular expenditure by R2bn to a record high of R11,55bn - Failure to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that disciplinary steps were taken against officials who had incurred unauthorised and irregular expenditure as required by section 38(1)(h)(iii) of the PFMA and; the department being a defendant on various litigation matters relating to medical negligence and claims against the state amounting to R26,23bn.
“The DA strongly believes that the MEC must not only answer to these audit findings but also produce her departmentʼs Annual Report for public representatives to compare finances to actual outcomes achieved,” the DA said.