Parliament’s Standing Committee on the Auditor-General(AG) says the days of dealing with irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure only on paper are now a thing of the past.
Acting Committee Chairperson Nthabiseng Khunou has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of the Public Audit Amendment Bill into law.
The legislation will give the Auditor-General powers to refer officials to law enforcement agencies and hold them personally liable if funds are wasted through negligence or corruption in government and state-owned entities.
Khunou says: “We have had audit outcomes and the AG reporting to us on any matters but they have never taken the AG seriously at all because they knew there were no consequences, that he does not have any teeth to bite.”
“So this legislation is actually giving him teeth to not deal with irregular expenditure only on paper but to go to an extent of checking why was it done and who has done it. The accounting officer who agreed that the irregular expenditure be performed, will also be held accountable.”
Related Video
