President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 26 said funds used to respond to the flood disaster in KwaZulu-Natal must be spent effectively, announcing that Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke, working with the National Treasury, would conduct real-time audits on the emergency flood relief funds.

Ramaphosa explained that this would provide independent assurance on whether public funds have been appropriately accounted for and were used for their intended purpose.

There is an overwhelming sense of cynicism around the spending of donations to assist 40 000 displaced residents whose homes were damaged in the floods.

Ramaphosa said it was a great source of shame that, when this disaster struck, the most burning public debate was around fears that the resources allocated to respond to this disaster would be misappropriated or wasted.

He added that this showed just how tired the people of South Africa have become of corruption.

He said these audits were aimed at preventing, detecting and reporting on the findings to ensure an immediate response to prevent leakage, potential fraud and wastage.

“They will equip accounting officers and accounting authorities to act quickly on weaknesses in controls and prevent further losses. They will also enable immediate oversight and consequence management,” he explained.

Ramaphosa announced that Treasury was also strengthening reporting requirements with respect to expenditure on disaster relief.

He said that, to improve monitoring and ensure greater transparency, the details of all disaster-related procurement by public institutions would be published on the Treasury’s website to allow public scrutiny of these procurement transactions.

The flooding has caused extensive damage to houses, businesses, roads, bridges, water, electricity, rail and telecommunication infrastructure.

More than 430 people lost their lives to the deluge, with 54 people are still missing.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said these storms were a reminder that climate change remains the biggest single threat to the future of humanity.

The effects of climate change are already being widely felt and are expected to increase in severity over the next 20 years. These impacts are directly affecting people, economies and the natural world.

“Our country has made significant progress in putting in place the architecture to reduce our carbon footprint and make our economy and society more climate resilient,” he said.

He said this strategy guided government’s efforts to build resilience and reduce the vulnerability of communities to climate change.