The Public Servants Association (PSA) says it is dismayed that lack of consequence management, inefficiency of oversight committees and limited powers of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AG) have led to the loss of billions of rands, and as a result it is calling for the urgent amendment of the Public Audit Act to give the AG more power.

Government departments and public entities are responsible for more than R38.8-billion in irregular expenditure the AG has found, with Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke admitting that her office has limited powers, making it difficult to bring forward legal cases or take disciplinary action.

The PSA wants government to address the gap to ensure that “crooks and thieves” face the necessary consequences.

“Delinquent head of departments and accounting officers must be taken to task for their contribution in the massive looting and must be banned from occupying any seat in public organisations or any governments and entities,” it said.

Maluleke confirmed that government lost more than R14.3-billion through payment of goods without delivery and ineffective use of resources, attributing this sharp increase in irregular expenditure to “lazy and errant” accounting officers and departmental heads “who abdicate their responsibilities”.

“The fact that her office can only get accounting officers to recoup R3.39-billion out of R14.3-billion in losses owing to material irregularity, is highly concerning,” said the PSA.

It pointed to the AG’s plea for oversight committees to hold officials accountable, as well as to address systematic failures where the office of the AG and parliamentary committees are not able to ensure effective consequence management.

“One such example is the payment of R700-million for training that was never provided. The Compensation Fund received disclaimers in its audit for the past 12 years and in the past year alone irregularities amounted to R11-billion, yet it is business as usual,” stated the PSA.

The association noted that procurement and supply chain management processes seem to be the “leaking tap of government”.