Treasury officials and Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu on Tuesday spelled out in Parliament how the Department of Water and Sanitation went on a tender deviation spree while Nomvula Mokonyane was at the helm.

In the process they splurged billions of rands in excessive project management and professional fees‚ leaving the department in financial distress.

The department was also riddled with leadership instability and a skills crisis‚ which had compounded its woes.

The deviations had resulted in the department forking out excessive construction costs as its fruitless and wasteful expenditure skyrocketed‚ while it had outsourced its procurement to a private company.

Damningly‚ the Department of Water and Sanitation had not consulted the Treasury‚ as is required‚ when it deviated from prescribed tender processes‚ MPs were told on Tuesday during a joint sitting of the standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on water and sanitation.

Mokonyane is now the communications minister.