Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by CJ Steyl.
North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi must expedite the appointment of a permanent accounting officer to head the Department of Education.
The Head of Department (HOD) position has been filled by three individuals in an acting capacity during the year under review, seeing the department obtain its second consecutive qualified audit outcome for the financial year 2023/24.
Although the Auditor-General (AG) identified a reduction in qualifications, marking a slight improvement, the annual report reads like a crime scene.
The AG identified a lack of leadership as a root cause of financial and performance mismanagement because of the rotational appointments of acting HODs as well as a leadership, skills, and capacity shortage within the supply chain management unit. This situation contributed to more than R2 billion in irregular expenditure, the bulk of it recorded in previous years without any investigation to date, and an additional R151 million in unauthorised expenditure.
The department awarded contracts without any invitation to tender, facilitated payments for goods and services without obtaining three quotations, and extended expired contracts irregularly.
As a result of the lack of leadership, there is also a lack of effective monitoring of supply chain management processes, and where breaches with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) have been identified, no consequence management or disciplinary action have been taken against implicated officials. A substantive HOD appointment must ensure that these criminal acts are investigated and that the required action against implicated officials is taken without fear or favour.
There are also major concerns surrounding the national school’s nutrition programme, where some appointed service providers are preparing meals under unsuitable and unhygienic conditions, placing learners at risk of food poisoning. This is a serious concern as we increasingly see children being rushed to hospital after consuming adulterated food.
The department is already experiencing severe budget cuts because of the strain on the national fiscus following a decade of state capture and poor economic growth. Under the current education funding crisis, it is imperative that the department strengthen its financial and supply chain management processes to ensure that every cent is spent on delivering quality education to North West learners.
The department needs a qualified, skilled, and experienced HOD, and the time to appoint one is now.