PUBLIC servants and their families have benefited from tenders worth R580-million, said Auditor-General Terence Nombembe.
In an attempt to prevent government officials from milking the state further, he has created a booklet to guide state leadership on how to deal with those squandering public funds, Nombembe said in Pretoria yesterday.
He revealed that contracts worth R438-million were awarded to companies in which public servants of the same departments had interests.
He also said contracts to the tune of R141-million were awarded to suppliers in which close family members of the public servants had interests. He said tendering continued to be a problem in government.
"Ineffective performance management is evident at some departments and state agencies, which means that officials who perform poorly are not dealt with decisively.
"My assessment is that the full might of the law has yet to be used in dealing with transgressions highlighted in our audit reports and in those of other state watchdog agencies," Nombembe said.
The A-G report showed that failure to comply with tendering laws was reported in the management reports of 287 (57%) auditees as compared with last year's 282 (58%).
"This is an area that gives rise to a number of images in our reporting ... if things are done in a manner that is inconsistent with the rule of law, that renders the transaction irregular.
"Irregular (procurement) accounts are ever-growing but there is a lot of effort to regularise transactions and ensure that we prevent further transactions being closed in a manner that is inconsistent with the rule of law."
He said most of the transactions became irregular because no competitive bidding took place or companies associated with government officials were awarded tenders.
He highlighted that there was a general trend of stagnant results for both national and provincial departments.
Fewer than a quarter of those audited received clean audit opinions and 50 were unable to maintain the clean reports they received last year.
Nombembe was also concerned about the departments that had regressed from clean audit opinions.
"Of special concern is that the increase in auditees with material findings on non-compliance with legislation, is up to 74%."
He said IT needed strong controls to ensure that information contained in the government is protected and only accessible to those with privileges to access it.
The full might of the law is yet to be used
R580m tender-looting frenzy
PUBLIC servants and their families have benefited from tenders worth R580-million, said Auditor-General Terence Nombembe.
In an attempt to prevent government officials from milking the state further, he has created a booklet to guide state leadership on how to deal with those squandering public funds, Nombembe said in Pretoria yesterday.
He revealed that contracts worth R438-million were awarded to companies in which public servants of the same departments had interests.
He also said contracts to the tune of R141-million were awarded to suppliers in which close family members of the public servants had interests. He said tendering continued to be a problem in government.
"Ineffective performance management is evident at some departments and state agencies, which means that officials who perform poorly are not dealt with decisively.
"My assessment is that the full might of the law has yet to be used in dealing with transgressions highlighted in our audit reports and in those of other state watchdog agencies," Nombembe said.
The A-G report showed that failure to comply with tendering laws was reported in the management reports of 287 (57%) auditees as compared with last year's 282 (58%).
"This is an area that gives rise to a number of images in our reporting ... if things are done in a manner that is inconsistent with the rule of law, that renders the transaction irregular.
"Irregular (procurement) accounts are ever-growing but there is a lot of effort to regularise transactions and ensure that we prevent further transactions being closed in a manner that is inconsistent with the rule of law."
He said most of the transactions became irregular because no competitive bidding took place or companies associated with government officials were awarded tenders.
He highlighted that there was a general trend of stagnant results for both national and provincial departments.
Fewer than a quarter of those audited received clean audit opinions and 50 were unable to maintain the clean reports they received last year.
Nombembe was also concerned about the departments that had regressed from clean audit opinions.
"Of special concern is that the increase in auditees with material findings on non-compliance with legislation, is up to 74%."
He said IT needed strong controls to ensure that information contained in the government is protected and only accessible to those with privileges to access it.
The full might of the law is yet to be used
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