WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE?

Good grief! SARS is squeezing every red cent out of anyone who breathes and the money is being "misappropriated" from Government coffers! What upsets me even more is the fact that this piece is all about the statistics (or lack thereof) yet nothing seems to be done to bring these figures down and regulate the whole thing! Staff should be properly charged and put the proper disciplinary procedures. I have no doubt that proper procedures are in place to prevent such misappropriation - the question has to be, why are they not being monitored?

Who is accountable?
Who is responsible?

Until those two questions are asked and answered - the 'misappropriation' will continue!

Where has all the money gone?
August 15 2007 at 06:54AM
By Wendy Jasson Da Costa

Public servants at the bottom of the salary scale were largely to blame for the more than R45-million misappropriated from government coffers in the last financial year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) says.

According to a report released by the PSC in Pretoria on Tuesday, theft and fraud accounted for 67,4 percent of the 771 cases of financial misconduct reported. PSC chairperson Stan Sangweni said the largest number of financial misconduct cases had been among salary levels 1 to 8. "This level of employee is often entrusted with duties that entail the handling of state money and the procurement of goods," Sangweni said.


"(The) trend is in line with statistics provided for the previous financial years." Overall, 319 cases of financial misconduct were reported at national level and 452 at provincial level, the PSC said. The Public Finance Management Act defines financial misconduct as entailing any material loss through criminal conduct, or unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

DThe PSC's director-general, Odette Ramsingh, said financial misconduct that occurred at salary levels 1 to 8 mainly entailed the misuse of petrol cards and using state vehicles without the proper authority. The department of justice had reported the highest number of finalised cases, 86, the department of defence 74, and the South African Police Service 63, the report said.

Of the provinces, the Eastern Cape had the highest number of finalised cases, 173, most of them, 127, from its department of education. The Free State showed the largest financial management improvement. The number of reported cases was 29 in 2005/06, compared with 52 finalised in 2004/05. The department of land affairs had the biggest loss, R20-million, which had been set aside for land acquisitions. None of this was recovered.

A fairly senior employee - level 14 - was charged with misconduct and a criminal case launched, although the employee had left the department. The National Treasury lost R154,84, arising from the unauthorised use of a government vehicle. The employee, a level 6, repaid this money, was reprimanded and given a verbal warning, the report said. The employee also faces charges for the unauthorised use of the vehicle.

The PSC said other categories of misconduct included corruption, fraud, theft, irregular expenditure, gross negligence and misappropriation and abuse which involved the wrongful, improper or excessive use of public funds and assets. Ramsingh said the increase in the number of cases reported might be ascribed to more national and provincial departments submitting reports during the 2005/06 financial year.

The only one that did not submit a report was Gauteng's education department. Of the 34 national departments, 10 had submitted a nil report, which meant they had encountered no financial misconduct in the 2005/06 year. Those departments were the Public Service Commission, communications, Independent Complaints Directorate, the Presidency, provincial and local government, public enterprises, science and technology, safety and security, social development, and sport and recreation.

The PSC said on Tuesday, however, that while most departments had submitted the required details, the quality of the information was of concern and that most departments seemed "indifferent" to accurate reporting or lacked the capacity to pay proper attention to it. The PSC emphasised there was a need for internal controls and said in future it expected monthly reports of finalised financial misconduct cases and the recovery of debt. The PSC report is to be tabled in parliament.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on August 15, 2007