ENDLESS GOVERNMENT WASTE & MORE . . .

The Auditor-General's report on the financial condition of provincial and national government departments was again symptomatic of a bloated government bureaucracy gormandising at the trough.

The report highlights the loss of R26 billion of public funds through irregular expenditures.   In addition, of the 468 entities audited, 355 received an unqualified audit.  According to the report, the Auditor-General had to make 'corrections' to 131 entities to reflect a better outcome. Obviously 'corrections' do not equate with the euphemism known as creative accounting.  Nonetheless, clarification on the nature of the corrections must be forthcoming.

In response to the report, a spokesman for the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa recommended the creation of an integrity commission as a chapter nine institution.  The role of the integrity commission would serve to prevent  and combat corruption and maladministration. Not so, as it will suffer the same fate as other well-intentioned commissions - consignment to the dust-heap.

For too long provincial and national government departments have engendered a mentality of entitlement devoid of accountability. In doing so, a culture of corruption without consequences pervades South Africa's landscape. This will end when laws, already in place, are enforced and long prison sentences imposed as a deterrent to others.  The solution lies with the police and the prosecuting authority. They have yet to earn their pay cheques.