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Stop waste!

MPUMALANGA government departments have wasted R2.9-billion of taxpayers' money through poor financial management during the last financial year.

And the DA in the province has written to President Jacob Zuma, asking him to remove Premier David Mabuza from office as a matter of urgency.

"The cancers of corruption and non-compliance to regulations are costing this province dearly, and the free-for-all under Mabuza's patronage has to be stopped," DA leader, Anthony Benadie, said.

The DA used, among other things, the findings of auditor-general Terence Nombembe, which highlighted the scale of ineptitude in the public service.

Nombembe has found that all departments and parastatals lost a whopping R2.9-billion to fruitless, wasteful, irregular and unauthorised expenditure, as well as through negligence and accruals during the 2010-11 financial year.

The Education Department, which received the largest chunk of the provincial budget, wasted the most money.

Reginah Mhaule's department misspent R863.7-million, which is almost 10% of its annual budget.

The A-G's assessment of management across all departments are virtually carbon copies of one another, citing poor planning, poor execution, poor management, poor risk assessment and poor control in almost every report.

The DA has also written to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela asking for an investigation into why the equivalent of 90000 RDP houses were allowed to be lost and no disciplinary action was taken.

"We have also asked Madonsela to investigate the financial affairs of senior management staff in all departments, and establish how many have benefited financially from doing business with government departments," Benadie said.

The party also wants the Public Service Commission to perform a complete audit of all senior management staff members' skills and competencies to assess whether they are indeed fit to serve the needs of the poor and destitute.

Mpumalanga government spokesman Lebona Mosia declined to comment on the matter yesterday.

"The DA has asked Premier Mabuza the same questions and he will answer them on November 29," Mosia said.

"Until then we cannot comment on this matter."

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