The name of South Africa’s new top accountant, the Auditor-General, will be submitted to the National Assembly in little over a week.
The Ad-Hoc Committee of the AG has wrapped up interviews of six possible candidates. It will now deliberate on who the frontrunner for the position will be.
Members of Parliament on the interviewing panel sought the views of all candidates on how they would tackle corruption pandemic plaguing the country if they were given the job.
Current AG, Kimi Makwetu, will be handing over his calculator to his successor at the end of November, after serving the country in that post for the past seven years.
The office of the AG, a Chapter Nine institution, is the highest audit authority in the land.
For years, despite AG recommendations and public outcries, audit outcomes in government, especially local government, remain poor. Now, thanks to the Public Audit Act, the AG may refer cases to law enforcement entities and issue certificates of debt to personally hold accounting officers responsible for spending transgressions.
This might make a difference in how money is spent and plays a role in clamping down on corruption.
Tackling corruption
“These allegations of corruption have the potential to erode our people’s confidence in their government, whom they put their trust in. Thus to assist our government’s commitment to root out corruption, we, as this committee, need to execute this difficult unique and momentous task to recommend a suitable candidate,” Ad-Hoc Committee Chairperson, Sisisi Tolashe said.
All candidates agreed the country is finding itself in a rather sticky situation:
Zakariya Hoosain
“Transparency is of the utmost importance. People are struggling to trust state institutions, and that is the reality.”
Moses Gasela
“And if during the process we are finding the prima facie evidence for wrongdoing, for corruption, for theft; these must be referred to the relevant agencies to investigate further.”
Michael Sass
“The most important thing that we can do is to make sure there is consequence management. If people have misused the funds given to them, then it’s the role of the AG to identify these things, so that action can be taken.”
Shabeer Khan
“What we need to ensure is that every rand is spent in a constitutionally sound manner and in accordance with the laws of our country.”
Tsakane Maluleke
“…making sure that accounting officers have the ethical posture, but they clearly set out the rules in which procurement will happen in their environment. And it’s about acting when things go wrong.”
Edmond Shoko-Lekhuleni
“These challenges are a threat. They are a threat to our freedom and a threat to our democracy.”
The Ad-Hoc committee has until the end of August to deliberate on the matter. It will then submit its recommendation to the National Assembly, and if adopted, it goes to the president for a formal appointment.
