Shape up or ship out, top officials told

Ministers, directors general and senior government officials are now at risk of getting the chop if they don’t improve in running their departments.

This follows a decision by Cabinet not to accept the perennial excuses that departments give Parliament when called to explain their qualified audit reports. When a department receives a qualified audit report, it could mean financial mismanagement, incomplete asset registers or unaccounted-for budget spending.

Departments are expected to account annually to Parliament on their financial performance. Despite strong criticism levelled against them by portfolio committees, some departments, such as home affairs and labour, have had qualified audits for several consecutive years.

Cabinet has given the departments six weeks to produce plausible explanations for their financial management problems. These submissions will be scrutinised by treasury, which will also monitor the implementation of the proposed solutions.

Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Tuesday that Cabinet saw the qualified audits as ‘a very serious matter”.

The targeted departments are home affairs, labour, correctional services, defence, the water trading account and government printing works — which ‘persistently receive poor audit outcomes”.

According to Accountant General Freeman Nomvalo, the Public Finance Management Act envisages that individuals responsible for the poor financial management of departments should be held responsible, but this has never been implemented.

The standing committee on public accounts can also recommend action against individuals by invoking parliamentary rules that allow it to institute criminal or civil proceedings against ministers and directors general. The committee has never done this but, according to an ANC MP, the problem lies in the bureaucracy of departments and in Parliament. ‘A quicker turnaround time is needed to address these issues properly. At the moment it takes about three years for the process to be concluded.”

Cabinet expects progress reports on what measures the departments are taking and how effective they are in curbing the financial mismanagement, Nomvalo says.

‘If I was a DG [director general] I would not wait to be audited, I would take steps now because it impacts on me as a person in terms of my performance.”

Provinces that are renowned for their poor financial management, such as the Eastern Cape, should expect a similar process, which will be dealt with by Parliament’s lower house, the National Council of Provinces. ‘Provinces are not off the hook. They will also be looked at,” Nomvalo says.

An official in one of the departments targeted warns there will not be an overnight turnaround in performance. ‘You first have to work out how deep the hole is before you can expect a clean audit. The reasons for the qualified audits are not the same all the time. People should not have expectations that are too high,” the official says.

Meanwhile senior civil servants are on tenterhooks following the resumption of government business after the ANC’s conference in Polokwane.

Although Maseko is at pains to give assurances that in government it will be ‘business as usual”, some are privately expressing anxiety about their futures under a Zuma government.

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has called a meeting of her senior staff members to allay their fears, the Mail & Guardian was told.

‘She called us and said: ‘Guys, are you scared about what you are reading in the papers?’ and told us it will be okay.”

Because directors general are employed on contract, they prepare themselves to be replaced when a new leadership comes in, another government official says.

‘Another issue that is unsettling people’s minds is whether this government will serve out its full term or whether an early election will be called. The Cabinet lekgotla must give clarity on all these things,” the official says.

Statements by the ANC about the government are also a source of concern. ‘There are these ongoing things in the ANC where people say: ‘Do what we want or we’ll take action.’ At the same time they are saying they will not micromanage government, but these statements suggest otherwise.”

Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says that ‘from Polokwane up to now there has been some level of anxiety”, but says it applies mostly to people in higher positions such as directors general.

‘[How they feel] depends on where people are seated. People are worried about whether the change will mean they have to pack their bags and go.”