Durban - The Auditor-General (AG) continues to query and raise concerns about how the KwaZulu-Natal department of health is handling its finances and how some staff members claim for expenses but do not produce evidence to collaborate with them.
In the latest batch of leaked documents, IOL has been able to see a query from the KZN Office of the AG, which was directed to the HoD (Head of Department), Dr Sandile Tshabalala, asking him to explain many of the concerns before a final view on the state of the department is formulated.
Tshabalala was also asked to explain why some tenders worth millions were issued without checking whether the department had the finances to pay suppliers after their work had been completed.
Notably, the AG said it was worrying that the department (it is alleged that it already has an over expenditure of R3 billion and potential legal liabilities of R2,2 billion) was not paying suppliers within the treasury stipulated 30-day period.
This is contained in a letter dated 4 July 2022, and Tshabalala was given five working days to respond to the 46th (in 2022 alone) query from the public finances watchdog office.
“Treasury Regulation 8.2.3 indicates ‘unless determined otherwise in a contract or other agreement, all payments due to creditors must be settled within 30 days from receipt of an invoice or, in the case of civil claims, from the date of settlement or court judgment.”
During the audit of expenditure processes for goods and services, it was noted that the invoices were not paid within 30 days from the date of receipt of the invoice as required by legislation. This results in non-compliance with legislation,” the AG wrote to Tshabalala.
After that, the AG listed 60 of the tenders worth R401 million that have not been paid for on time. Among those owed by the time, the letter was written were the National Health Laboratory Services, Vodacom, Netstar, SITA, Didima Resort (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife owned) and Colombus Consulting.
In what the AG termed “ïnternal control deficiency”, she said some officials were procuring goods without checking whether funds were available to pay suppliers or not, thus flouting government regulations on procurement.
“Department officials are not always ensuring that the adequately designed and implemented controls are adhered to where funds availability needs to be confirmed prior to the purchase of goods and services to ensure that unauthorized expenditure is avoided.
“Recommendation(:) Management should ensure that before the order is approved that it is accompanied with the necessary approved NSI form or suitable evidence to confirm availability of funds. Official that approved the order without confirming the availability of the funds must be held accountable,” the AG recommended.
Lastly, the AG wanted answers from Dr Shabalala about travel claims made by some staff members in the Office of MEC, Nomagagu Simelane. She said she was unable to audit claims made by 25 employees, including Shabalala himself, because there was no supporting evidence.
“During the audit of goods and services, the following differences were noted when comparing the amount that is recorded in the Persal report to that which is contained in the travel claim forms. It was also noted that the incorrect supporting evidence was provided for certain transactions, and as a result, we were unable to perform audit procedures on these transactions,” the AG wrote.
The AG is expected to table her findings in August this year after querying transactions and getting answers from the department.
The department’s spokesperson was emailed a list of questions on Thursday, but at the time of publication, no response was forthcoming.
* This story will be updated with a comment from the department when received.
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