Several political parties within the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature have demanded accountability for the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ (Scopa) approval of unauthorised expenditure for both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years.

The matter was voted on at the legislature on Thursday.

Tim Brauteseth, a DA MPL and the chairperson of Scopa, stated that on May 8, 2024, Scopa passed a resolution to authorise R11 million in unauthorised expenditure. This total includes R4 million for the Department of Education, R6.8 million for Human Settlements, and R65,000 for Community Safety and Liaison.

Scopa resolved that these amounts be a direct charge against the Provincial Revenue Fund (PRF).

Brauteseth explained that due to the scaling back of activities focusing on the election of the 7th Administration, the report and resolutions were not debated and adopted.

He said the resolutions had financial implications and that the Provincial Treasury can only implement them when they are adopted by the House. 

According to Brauteseth, the Provincial Treasury recommended that Scopa consider approval of the relevant unauthorised expenditure disclosed in the 2022/23 annual financial statements.

The report’s purpose was to prompt Scopa to engage with the departments to determine whether the amounts should be funded by the PRF or if a first charge should be imposed against the department’s budget.

Brauteseth said Scopa approved the 2022/23 unauthorised expenditure of departments as a direct charge against the PRF.

This approval is contingent upon the implementation of consequence management and the establishment of internal controls to prevent future recurrences.

Ishana Barciela, an MPL and member of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), was concerned about having to authorise unauthorised expenditure left behind by the previous administration. 

“We are confronted with the ugly legacy of the sixth administration of this Legislature, which spent people’s money with reckless abandon and showed no care for accountability or proper priorities. Those entrusted with public office must be held accountable for their actions. They assumed they could simply approve their own crimes, authorise their dirty deeds, and quietly spread the repayments over seven years. It’s a huge bite out of the budget that should never be allowed.

“In education, it means another generation of children forced to learn in classrooms without textbooks, sitting on broken desks, some still attending schools with dangerous pit latrines. In health, it means clinics without medicines, hospitals without enough doctors or nurses, and ambulances that never arrive in time,” Barciela added. 

Otto Kunene, IFP MPL, said this is not a minor technicality in a financial report, it is at the heart of how the government earns or loses the trust of its citizens. 

“When money is misused or unaccounted for, it is not only numbers on a page that suffer but people on the ground. There are serious gaps remaining and delays in consequence management weaken accountability,” he said.

Mbalenhle Frazer, ANC MPL, said that with regard to the Department of Education, it was unavoidable to keep teachers in the classroom rather than balance the books. Despite these fiscal constraints, the DoE continues to deliver.

“We insist on tightening internal controls and ensure that consequence management is applied without fear or favour,” she said. 

EFF MPL Mongezi Twala regarded this as the collapse of fiscal discipline and systematic erosion of accountability. 

“This is unauthorised neglect of the future of the children. We are bailing out inefficiency with people’s money. The province faces structural fiscal risk. Instead of consequence management, we are offered resolutions that perpetuates a culture of impunity,” he said. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

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