Government waste could have funded more than 3 million food parcels

08 November 2022

Today the DA can confirm that at least R1.4 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, incurred by Government departments and entities, has been carried over into the current financial year.

The DA came to this conclusion by consolidating the sum total of fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the annual reports of all departments and entities.

It needs to be noted that several entities and departments have not tabled their yearly reports in time (including National Treasury) and if they did, the above amount would likely be much higher.

Some of the biggest offenders were:

SABC - R205 167 000.00

Department of Correctional Services - R157 220 000.00

SA Post Office - R131 553 000.00

SASSA - R87 624 123.00

UIF - R82 019 848.70

Department of Basic Education - R80 710 000.00

It is a shame that while South Africans find themselves in the middle of a cost of living crisis, the government is wasting millions of rands - funds that could have significantly contributed to other much-needed resources and services. For example:

R1.4 billion could have funded the following:

12 139 RDP houses at a cost of R116 000 each

3 796 new police officers with an anual salary of R371 000

5 575 nurses with an anual salary of R252 592

3 129 272 food parcels at a cost of R450 each

183 355 763 sanitary pads at a cost of R7.68 each

The Public Audit Act now gives the Auditor General power to issue audit certificates to departments and entities that fail to implement her remedial action to improve audit outcomes. The AG has, however, been reluctant to use this option for reasons best known to her. The DA will write to her office to request information on whether any audit certificates have been issued against the offending Departments? And if not, why not?

Statement issued by Cilliers Brink MP - DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), 8 November 2022