A municipality manager has been ordered to personally repay R4.6m lost on paying a water trucking company that had submitted questionable invoices for delivering water.
This comes after auditor-general (AG) Tsakane Maluleke slapped the Ngaka Modiri Molema municipal manager Allan Olehile Losaba with her first certificate of debt (CoD). The action follows repeated warnings by the AG for Losaba to fix the irregular expenditure which was identified during auditing of the water trucking invoices belonging to one company.
“During the AGSA’s 2018/19 audit cycle, the audit team selected a sample of daily tankering schedules completed by the service provider and compared them to the job cards completed. It was noted that the service provider overclaimed on kilometres and hours for water tankering services, resulting in a financial loss for the 2018/19 financial year,” said Maluleke through a statement.
After several interventions by the AG’s office, it’s alleged that Losaba failed to remedy the situation and to recoup the lost funds.
The AG’s office said this marks the first CoD issued since the Public Audit Act’s expanded powers came into effect in April 2019, giving Maluleke the authority to hold accounting officers personally liable for material financial losses.
Maluleke said Losaba failed to provide justifiable reasons for his failure to implement the remedial action, calling for him to recover the financial losses suffered.
“Having considered the written representation and the advice from the advisory committee following the oral representation proceedings, I have decided to proceed with issuing a CoD against the accounting officer to the amount of R4 616 074,66,” she said.
According to the AG, the material irregularity was first identified during the 2018/19 audit cycle.
In June 2018, the municipality appointed a service provider for water tankering services for drought relief, with the contract initially set to end in June 2020 and later extended twice in 2020.
The overclaiming continued into the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years, compounding the losses.
Maluleke said if the accounting officer doesn’t follow their mandate, then the AG will use the powers given to them.
“If accounting officers, supported by their political leadership, implement their legislated responsibilities and commit to taking swift action when we notify them of an MI, there is no need for the office of the AG to use remedial and referral powers. If, however, they do not deal with MIs with the required seriousness and speed, we will not hesitate to use these powers,” she said.