Members of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities have deep concerns about the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities’ and its entities’ deteriorating audit outcomes and the continued governance challenges highlighted by the Auditor-General South Africa.
These concerns were raised during a briefing from the Auditor-General on the department’s audit outcomes, as well as those of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE). The Auditor-General noted that the department had regressed from the clean audit outcomes achieved during the previous two financial years, while the Commission for Gender Equality’s outcomes remained unchanged with an unqualified audit opinion with findings.
Meanwhile, the audit process for the National Youth Development Agency had not been finalised due to an ongoing dispute relating to certain audit findings. Consequently, the NYDA’s audit outcome could not be presented at the meeting.
Committee Chairperson Ms Liezl van der Merwe described the findings as deeply concerning and reflective of challenges the committee has raised repeatedly with the department and its entities. “I think if we are very honest with ourselves, the AG has painted a terribly depressing picture for us this morning. It’s depressing because the portfolio meant to look after the most vulnerable in our society is moving backwards and not forwards. And what is equally depressing for me is the fact that the AG is raising many of the issues that this portfolio committee has been raising with our department and the CGE.”
The committee noted that long-standing issues relating to vacancies, leadership instability, weak internal controls and poor performance reporting continue to undermine the department’s ability to execute its mandate effectively.
Ms van der Merwe said the committee has repeatedly questioned the department about the continued rollover of vacancies and the instability in senior leadership positions. “We’ve met and discussed the issues of vacancies. There’s always this continuous rollover of the vacancies. We have raised the issue of the leadership instability at our department. We are on our third Director General within the department.”
The committee view was that department needs proper succession planning so that when one senior manager resigns, the department continues to function.
Ms van der Merwe also noted, “We have raised the issue, for example, about the fact that our department is not able to provide credible performance reports. The AG’s office has highlighted that as well.”
Committee members agreed that the department’s inability to provide credible performance information makes it difficult for the committee to determine whether public funds are achieving meaningful outcomes for women, youth and persons with disabilities.
They also questioned why similar findings continue to be raised year after year despite the existence of audit action plans and repeated oversight interventions.
Committee member Dr Kgosi Letlape called for decisive action against officials who fail to comply with procurement and financial management prescripts, arguing that accountability has been lacking across the public sector. “We really, really need to get a report from the department on the issue of consequence management. Our country is going astray because whatever people do wrong there’s no consequence. Whether it’s men in relation to gender-based violence and femicide or officials that are paid to do a job and the job is not done.”
Members said that claims of underfunding should be accompanied by detailed plans demonstrating how additional resources would improve performance and service delivery. “We can no longer just accept generic statements that say, ‘We are underfunded’. Yes, resources are scarce, but what we need are proper plans and proper resources with what they are going to deliver with those resources.”
Committee members questioned whether the department’s challenges stem solely from vacancies or whether there is a broader capacity problem within senior management structures. One member, Ms Samantha Graham-Mare, suggested that senior management must take responsibility for the poor quality of financial reporting, weak compliance monitoring and the failure to address previous audit findings.
The committee also questioned the effectiveness of the department’s Audit and Risk Committee and internal audit structures and sought the Auditor-General’s views on whether weaknesses in these areas contributed to the regression in audit outcomes.
Several members raised concerns about the substantial amount of irregular expenditure reported during the audit process and questioned the progress of investigations into these matters. Members questioned how much of the irregular expenditure had been investigated, whether officials had been held accountable and what measures were being put in place to prevent future occurrences.
The committee welcomed the Auditor-General’s recommendations aimed at strengthening departmental accountability, governance and oversight, but emphasised that implementation remains critical.
Yoliswa Landu
2 October 2026
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