The Auditor-General has drawn attention to wasteful expenditure at the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
Although the authority's annual report for the 2008/9 financial year received an unqualified audit from the auditor - which is responsible for signing off on government entities' financial reports - it did emphasise several issues.
Among the issues highlighted by the Auditor-General are thousands spent in what it terms fruitless and wasteful expenditure, as well as irregular expenditure.
The report, which was tabled before the standing committee on public accounts earlier this month, highlighted the fact that interest was charged by suppliers because their accounts were paid late.
Wasting money
In ICASA's annual report, the auditor draws attention to fruitless and wasteful expenditure to the amount of R39 570, due to penalties and interest charges.
Among these charges are penalties for renewing motor vehicle licences late, and interest charges of R16 444, because suppliers were not paid within 30 days.
The committee said that it was not the amount about which it was concerned, but the principle that ICASA was paying suppliers late, incurring penalties, and putting smaller companies in jeopardy because they were not paid on time.
educate staff about correct payment procedures.
ICASA also incurred penalties of R22 862 for paying staff late when it could not process the payroll due to “load shedding”, says the report. The committee pointed out that this implied that ICASA did not have a back-up plan in place to prevent this sort of situation from happening again.
The Auditor-General also drew attention to irregular expenditure worth R387 081 that was incurred because the authority did not comply with supply chain management processes.
ICASA's annual report states that several items, such as advertising, payroll and IT, were acquired without a competitive quote being sought. It says “all incidents of fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure are being investigated”.
CEO Karabo Motlana told the standing committee that the wasteful expenditure had arisen because of “a failure of management”. ICASA had started to determine the exact nature of the transgressions and to follow the necessary steps to take corrective action, he said.
Not delivered
The Auditor-General also drew attention to the fact that ICASA did not fully comply with the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations.
It highlighted that ICASA did not submit its monthly management accounts to the Department of Communications, as required by the PFMA. It also did not prepare and sign a performance contract with Motlana for the 2008/9 financial year, despite this being a requirement of the PFMA.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille says ICASA's performance is set to improve, as performance agreements that will hold management to accountability are waiting for parliamentary sign off. She says wasteful expenditure is unacceptable, and systems need to be put into place to prevent a re-occurrence.
ICASA was not immediately available to comment this morning.
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