Custodians of public finances should be quaking in their boots at suggestions the auditor-general go after them for losses incurred by the state on their watch.
MPs are engaged in the process of giving the office of the auditor-general more teeth, and in coming weeks parliamentarians on the standing committee on the auditor-general anticipate that the Public Audit Act Amendment Draft Bill will be ready for tabling in the National Assembly. Before that can happen, the MPs have to fine-tune the wording of the bill, as well as address concerns raised about it during public hearings.
Year in, year out, the office of the auditor-general releases damning findings about the dire state of the government’s books — from local to provincial level and the national sphere.
The release of the consolidated audit outcomes of the state has become something of an annual ritual that takes place in October. The outcomes have shown a consistent decline in financial controls, illustrated in the rise in fruitless and wasteful state expenditure.
And every year there are undertakings to do better to prevent the public purse from being abused. For a week or so in October the country becomes transfixed with the figures, followed by the obligatory outrage. However, not much is done to address the defects detected by the auditor-general in terms of how the state runs its books.
For years, accounting officers and accounting authorities whose entities or departments perform badly are simply moved to other departments or provinces. In the process they escape both censure and accountability but remain in the employ of the state.
In its current form, the amendment draft bill states that referrals may be made to an 'appropriate body'. There is discussion about whether this should be changed to 'relevant law enforcement agency'
The Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act entrust accounting officers with preventing financial losses, and the office of the auditor-general audits the state within the framework of those acts.
In addition, the Public Audit Act of 2004 and the Constitution give impetus to the work carried out by the auditor-general.
As MPs debate final details of the draft bill, there is a renewed sense of urgency to address the shortcomings in the Public Audit Act of 2004, which places limitations on the office of the auditor-general. One of the ways in which this office’s hands are tied is that it cannot refer cases for investigation.
In the discussions taking place in Parliament there is agreement this should change — the auditor-general should be empowered to refer cases for investigation when wrongdoing is uncovered. However, the wording around this has been the subject of debate.
In its current form, the amendment draft bill states that referrals may be made to an "appropriate body". There is discussion about whether this should be changed to "relevant law enforcement agency".
There has also been robust engagement about whether or not the auditor-general should be empowered to issue "a certificate of debt and to collect on that debt".
This should, however, not be misinterpreted to mean that MPs are not in favour of the state recovering money lost because of administrative negligence. They do not want the auditor-general to overstep boundaries and interfere with the mandates of other state organs.
The parliamentary legal adviser and the legislature’s content adviser will give MPs guidance as part of the engagement process to ensure the draft bill is fit for legal purpose and that it is written in clear language. It is important to refer back to a study undertaken by the ad hoc committee on the review of chapter nine institutions, which culminated in a report. That report was tabled to Parliament in July 2007, and has been gathering dust since then.
Yet its insights remain relevant because its drafters foresaw many of the pitfalls plaguing oversight institutions.
• Phillip is news editor.
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