Defence dept told to pull up its socks

The auditor-general's (AG) warning to the department of defence and military veteran to pull their socks up has forced the department to take steps to fix its historically poor financial management, which results in wasteful and fruitless expenditure.

- Eric Naki

The AG found the poor quality of annual financial statements submitted by the department was a glaring shortcoming in the department's reporting, with 75% of its financial statements containing material errors. This represented an increase from 50% the previous year.

Despite operating from a low budget base, the department was found to have spent R442 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the year. This included R271 million from cancelled and renewed contracts and R108.2 million from unoccupied buildings.