Marion Edmunds
=D4NO comment,=D3 was the response from Auditor General Henri Kleuver =20 and the chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Finance Committee, ANC MP=20 Gill Marcus, this week when asked if they had faith in the financial=20 management of those provincial governments which have inherited bits=20 and pieces from the former TBVC states.=20 The Democratic Party=D5s Ken Andrew was prepared to comment: =D2The=20 problems are deep and complex and while they are being taken seriously, I =
have serious doubts whether the provinces in the short and medium term=20 have the capacity to put a stop to the lack of control, the chaos and=20 inevitably the fraud and stealing that is almost certainly going on in that=
kind of situation.=D2 Andrew heads the Parliamentary Portfolio Public Accounts committee=20 which has spent the week taking evidence from former TBVC=20 administration officials and their new South African successors on what=20 went wrong in the TBVC states, and how much it was impacting on the=20 situation now. =20 Audits were done in former Bophuthatswana government departments in=20 1994, or the year before. Only one Ciskei government department was=20 audited last year, three in Venda and none in Transkei. In fact, no =20 government departments have been audited in the former Transkei since=20
At the briefings this week, former TBVC state officials assured the=20 committee that they were doing their utmost to catch up on the auditing=20 work, by using consultants and private audit firms.=20 The auditor general has taken a firm step by appointing nine provincial=20 auditors this week, one for each province, to hasten the process.=20 In his report on the legacy of the TBVC state administrations of May this=
year, he wrote: =D3It is noted with great concern that a totally unacceptab=
situation exists in the former TBVC countries with regard to virtually all=
aspects of financial administration and control …Very large amounts of=20 taxpayers=D5 money is being wasted.=D3 Andrew is prepared to call the situation a crisis, and has called for a cr=
management plan to try and pull the new provincial governments out of the=
morass of the past. What emerged this week was that the homeland administrations were =20 dogged by a lack of money, extreme political interference, frequent=20 changes in staff, lack of training, inconstant leadership, incompatible=20 computer systems, low morale and lawlessness, Eastern Cape MEC Shaped Mayatula called this week for intervention =20 from national government. =D2However, well our team does, come come a=20 year or two we will still have these probelms … The Eastern Cape problem=
is bigger than the Eastern Cape.=D3 The appeal does not fall on deaf ears in the public accounts committee.=20 The members intend to draw up a report with recommendations in=20 response to the briefings, hoping that it will lay the basis for a national= plan=20 to save the provinces.