Mpumalanga wastes R11bn

REPORT: SALARIES OVERPAID, UNSTABLE LEADERSHIP

- Masoka Dube

Political parties have accused the Mpumalanga government of being incompetent and mismanaging funds after the auditor-general's (AG) report found the province recorded over R11 billion irregular expenditure for the 2024-2025 financial year.

Five auditees, departments as diverse as sport, education, agriculture, social development, and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, regressed from their previous clean audits.

According to the report, the department of health incurred R5.8 billion irregular expenditure, education R1.8 billion, human settlements Ro.5 billion, while social development was at R3 billion.

The factors that contributed to the regression:

► Salary overpayments;

► Approving housing allowances for civil servants who did not qualify;

► Not filling critical vacancies;

► Lack of information technology resources between departments and the provincial Treasury; and

► Instability at management and leadership level.

The AG recommended the premier must monitor and support department accounting officers in the investigation of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

He needs to also assist in the implementation of consequence management.