Maluleke tabled the 2021/22 National and Provincial Departments Audit Report in Parliament, which showed irregular spending by government departments amounted to R51 billion.
Screenshot of Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke presenting the results of the audit of municipalities (SABC on YouTube)
CAPE TOWN – Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke said years after the Public Audit Act was amended to give it more powers, he is slowly starting to see the effects.
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Although no accountants were issued with a certificate of arrears, Maluleke said her office was able to save the public purse R600 million in potential losses.
Maluleke tabled the 2021/22 National and Provincial Departments Audit Report in Parliament, which showed irregular spending by government departments amounted to R51 billion.
Since it began piloting significant misconduct reporting in a small group of auditees in 2019, the auditor-general has identified 179 such incidents with an estimated financial loss of R12 billion.
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Most of the detected violations were caused by non-compliance and suspected fraud.
Maluleke said the reporting has affected the attitude of accountants.
“Many of them are responding to our MIs with greater urgency and diligence than they normally do to verify audit findings.”
Although a debt certificate has not been issued, the Auditor General’s office is in the process of recovering the billion rand found in material irregularities.
“When appropriate action has not been taken, which is in the minority of cases, we have not hesitated to take the next step, and the law requires us to start by issuing a recommendation, which we include in the audit report,” the auditor general said.
Maluleke says her office plans to more than double the number of audit sites that will undergo this level of scrutiny this fiscal year to 430.
