Auditor General Shauket Fakie’s latest performance audit of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has revealed serious financial and administrative inefficiencies.
The audit tabled in Parliament on Tuesday identified financial and administrative inefficiencies in the management of moneys in trust (MMIT).
It revealed that maintenance and inheritance moneys intended for the poor, particularly women and children, were not being effectively managed by the department.
This was evident from the lack of regulations to regulate the trust which annually received almost R2-billion from maintenance, inheritance and fines.
Furthermore, the department did not ensure effective financial management, which resulted in a total of R134-million being recorded as an ”unreconciled balance”, R44-million recorded as a shortfall, the accounts of 108 courts not balancing, 41 courts having missing or no records, and 120 courts having no bank accounts.
Due to a lack of administration or enforcement of obligations in the Umlazi and Khayalitsha magisterial districts, 50 000 single-parent women did not receive maintenance due to them and/or their children.
It was found that no monitoring was undertaken to ensure that court orders were being honoured.
Unclassified money (money that have remained unclaimed in the trust account for six months or longer) amounted to R6-million in 12 403 cases.
After five years, the financial administration system project for the Justice Deposit Account System (JDAS) was not completed and had been partially rolled out to only 25 of the 530 cash halls.
It was consequently still not possible to offer a ”financial footprint” for moneys received and disbursed to the public at courts.
Fakie said the accounting officer had indicated that the department had been working for a number of years with the National Treasury to create a public-private partnership to ”leverage on the infrastructure of the financial sector” and aimed to achieve full implementation in all provinces by December 2007.
”The promotion of economy, efficiency and effectiveness depends on adequate management measures for the planning, budgeting authorisation, control and evaluation of the procurement and utilisation of resources.
”The responsibility to implement these management measures in managing the trust firmly rests with the department of justice and constitutional development’s management.
”It is hoped that this report will give rise to corrective steps, which will constructively contribute to the establishment and implementation of proper management measures and controls in the administration of MMIT by the department,” Fakie said. — Sapa