The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) has proved toothless in holding the executive to account for government departments and entities who fail to submit annual reports on time, the Democratic Alliance said.
Calling for the revision of the PFMA, the DA said on Thursday that while the legislation had made tremendous contributions in modernising the way government managed public finances, it was now due for an overhaul.
”The biggest problem with the current dispensation is that it does not sufficiently promote timeous legislative oversight by Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts to effect year-on-year improvements in the way government departments and entities manage taxpayer’s money,” said DA spokesperson Eddie Trent.
Currently, the PFMA obliged government departments and public entities to submit their annual reports by September every year.
”At one-and-a-half months before Parliament breaks at the end of the year and an effective three-and-a-half months of oversight time before the end of the financial year, this is clearly a very tight schedule to follow.
”Despite this fact … 114 of the government’s 298 department and public entities did not obey this requirement this year,” he said.
To address the situation, Trent said the DA would submit a private member’s Bill to Parliament on Thursday to amend the legislation.
The DA’s move took place against the backdrop of outgoing Auditor General Shauket Fakie’s damning report on poor financial management in government departments.
In his report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, Fakie pointed out that the significant increase in qualifications issued in national departments and public entities in the 2005/06 financial year was of major concern.
The number of departments whose accounts had been qualified had increased from seven in the 2004/05 financial year to 11 in the current year.
”The auditor general’s latest report on the audit outcomes of government departments and entities paints a bleak picture of how taxpayer’s money is being spent and accounted for in South Africa.
”Greater levels of public accountability by the executive and improved oversight over public finances by Parliament is … needed,” said Trent. — Sapa