State IT Agency saddled with R2 bn irregular expenditure

CASES PROBED

- MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

THE State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is currently saddled with cases of irregular expenditure totaling about R2 billion.

This was revealed by the institution's acting managing director, Gopal Reddy, during a briefing with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) regarding the agency's 2023-24 audit outcomes on Wednesday.

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s recent report found that SITA did not take effective and appropriate steps to prevent irregular expenditure required by the Public Finance Management Act.

“The majority of the irregular expenditure relates to expenditure incurred on ongoing multi-year contracts incurred in prior years. Prepayments were made before goods or services were received and the terms of the contract did not specify that payments in advance are required in contravention of treasury regulation,’ Maluleke said.