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By Siviwe Feketha 
1 hour ago
Durban – Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke has praised the significant improvement and recoveries made by some of the state entities that were flagged for poor financial controls in the disbursement of Covid-19 relief funds, including the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). ).
On Wednesday, Maluleke released the updated findings on the second audit of the Covid-19 relief funds.
The findings were a follow-up to the first audit results that were released by then-Auditor General Kimi Makwetu, in September, pointing to mismanagement and corruption in the disbursement of part of the R500 billion aid package intended to mitigate the effects of the virus.
Makwetu had attributed them to poor financial controls and wrongdoing, including excessive prices, unfair bidding processes and possible fraud.
Maluleke said the second audit focused on socioeconomic spending and followed up on the first report to see if the recommendations the office gave to state departments and entities were followed.
He said that the Department of Labor and Employment, which became the focus of financial mismanagement concerns after improper payment by individuals who were not legitimate beneficiaries of the FIU’s Temporary Employer / Employee (Ters) Plan, had taken corrective action since the publication of Makwetu’s report.
Some of the FIU’s poor controls saw it issue payments to people who were in prison, unemployed, and even dead.
“The transactions after our audit and recommendations look much better than the first phase. The exceptions are still there and things are not perfect yet, but there are far fewer exceptions. The second thing is that there were consequences that were measured for people who performed poorly and maintained systems that resulted in that level of loss for the FIU ”.
He praised the success in recovering some of the billions of rand that the FIU wrongly disbursed to illegitimate beneficiaries.
“As we speak now, R3.4bn has returned to the FIU’s coffers because there was responsiveness. I believe that if we accept this crisis as an opportunity to learn and galvanize our efforts to face the urgent need to strengthen our systems in government, we can win.
Maluleke said his special report did not include an audit on local government, as the bureau was working on the third installment of the Covid-19 aid spending that would focus on municipalities and be issued next year.
She said that Sassa, as of the end of September, had spent around R31 billion on various benefits intended for vulnerable households.
Despite widespread weak controls, many of the benefits designed to ensure socio-economic relief for citizens have been realized.
“About 5.6 million people benefited from this special aid grant, and 11.8 million South Africans and their families benefited from the supplemental grants and several families benefited from the food packages.”
Maluleke said that the effectiveness of many initiatives was compromised due to the absence of disciplines and stable controls in government.
“Some of our initiatives did not achieve the success that they should have, because we do not have the appropriate levels of discipline in planning, monitoring and coordinating the effort of different actors throughout the state.”
Political Bureau
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