The Standing Committee on Public Accounts yesterday received a briefing from the Minister of Finance, Mr Enoch Gondongwana, on the non-tabling of the National Treasury’s annual report for the 2021/22 financial year.
SCOPA Chairperson Mr Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the meeting with National Treasury is standard operating procedure for the committee when annual reports are tabled late with the Speaker of the National Assembly. “SCOPA prefers that request to be ventilated, as opposed to be taken on the basis of correspondence,” he said.
The Acting Director-General of the National Treasury, Mr Ismail Momoniat, said National Treasury has delayed its tabling due to disputes with the Auditor-General.
Committee member Mr Sakhumzi Somyo said the failure to table the report should elicit as sharp rebuke, as National Treasury should be exemplary in matters of financial accountability. Mr Somyo asked for an explanation about why the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) is an area of contention, as it was also included in the previous audit.
Another SCOPA member Mr Alfred Lees agreed with him, saying that the committee needs to know the details of why the tabling of the report has been delayed and what the disputes are.
Another member of SCOPA, Ms Ntombovuyo Mente, said the mere fact that National Treasury has to come before the committee means there is a dispute. “We want to understand why has National Treasury not agreed with the findings of the Auditor-General? Why is there a dispute and what is the dispute about?”
Mr Hlengwa pointed out that the delay on the basis of a dispute with the Auditor-General does not mean National Treasury has not complied. “The prescripts of the law allow you to engage in the process you are in now,” he said. However, as National Treasury needs to set the standard for all others to follow, as the custodians of the Public Finance Management Act. “Therefore it does draw our attention when you don’t table. You do need to delve into the merits of why you have not tabled, so that there is clarity and understanding; and to avoid the precedence. Because non-tabling really, whilst provided for, in our view is not a norm. It should arise in extraordinary circumstances.”
Mr Momoniat agreed with Mr Hlengwa that the National Treasury must be held to the highest of standards. “That is right for the country and for the National Treasury. We need to be an example to all others.”
He told the committee that the dispute with the AG is around a change in methodology on how guarantees are recorded. Another issue revolves around how payments to the South African Special Risks Insurance Association and the Government Employees Pension Fund are reported. “The last issue is the difficult one of the IFMS. The IFMS issue has really dogged our financials. The implementation of the IFMS has been delayed.”
Mr Gondongwana concluded by agreeing with SCOPA that National Treasury cannot afford to lower the bar. “It is my intention that it should not do so.”
Faith Ndenze
2 November 2022
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