Pretoria – Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation has commended the Department of Water and Sanitation for achieving its first unqualified audit since 2009.
The department on Thursday tabled its 2015/16 annual report to the Portfolio Committee. The report showed that underspending at the department was reduced from R3 billion to R189 million.
All accruals from previous financial years were addressed during the financial year under review.
The average timeframe for paying suppliers was reduced from 86 days to an average of 23 days.
Fraudulent activities by officials worth R4.5 million were uncovered and have been addressed through disciplinary processes.
“Twelve cases of financial misconduct were opened and 11 cases were won by the department. Charges included fraud, negligence, violation of supply chain management procedures and fruitless expenditure.
“Sanctions imposed for financial misconduct included dismissals, suspensions and demotions, suspensions without pay and written warnings,” the department said in its presentation.
Eleven bulk water schemes were completed, benefitting over 78 000 households and 34 816 households were provided with interim or basic water supply in the 27 priority districts.
The department also implemented the River Eco-status Monitoring Programme in 62 rivers. A total of 116 licences were issued to strategic sectors, 79 of which were in agriculture, 12 in mining, 11 in industry and 14 in energy, releasing 11.9 million cubic metres of water for productive use.
For these achievements, Auditor General Kimi Makwetu has named the Department of Water and Sanitation the most improved national government department.
The Portfolio Committee extended its support to the department and encouraged officials to actively engage the committee on challenging areas, especially on inter-governmental relations.
Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said the unqualified audit opinion came amid a challenging environment.
“Below normal rainfall during the 2015/16 summer rainfall season resulted in the meteorological, hydrological, socio-economic and agricultural drought that was experienced across the country. As a result, a number of emergency interventions had to be implemented in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Free State and Eastern Cape.
“Those emergency interventions, however, had the unintended consequence of contributing to an increased amount of irregular expenditure during the financial year under review,” said Minister Mokonyane. – SAnews.gov.za
