Tsakani Maluleke briefed a joint meeting of Parliament and said that figure could be higher if more municipalities submitted their financial statements.
Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize said a forensic investigation had found that a tender awarded to Digital Vibes contravened tender processes and constituted irregular and wasteful expenditure to the value of R150 million. Mkhize said that he did not benefit from the tender in any way and an investigation was under way.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke said that non-compliance included lack of transparency in procurement and continuation of tenders that were not opened to competitive bidding.
The DA’s shadow MEC for Education Khume Ramulifho said that according to the Auditor-General, effective steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure amounting to more than R1 billion.
"Some of them are obvious because when you go and speak to the project manager who was on the contract, they had no recollection of that subcontract."
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has heard how the Free State was allocated R1 billion for low cost housing and that R400 million of that money was paid without any procurement or agreements.
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala has revealed the findings of a two-month-long investigation by provincial treasury into the departments of Education and Social Development.
Investigations over the past two months had revealed that officials took advantage of the Disaster Management Act in the purchase of PPEs and blankets in the wake of COVID-19.
The organisation said it would encourage treasury to implement Section 216 of the Constitution to withhold equitable share to address financial misconduct.
This has been attributed to departures from prescribed regulations a problem that has hogged municipal finances for some time.
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said that irregular expenditure continued to rise in the current financial year.
The changes to the Public Audit Act mean Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu can refer matters for investigation, demand binding remedial action and issue a certificate of debt to hold accounting officers who fail to act personally liable for funds lost.
Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu called on government leaders to take urgent action to halt the trend, restore accountability and prevent the mismanagement of public funds.
The audit results are expected to show a rise in irregular expenditure, which amounted to just under R51 billion in 2017/2018.
National Treasury chief director TV Pillay told MPs the worst-performing municipalities were also owed a R150 billion in unpaid debt, and this had a serious impact on revenues.
National Treasury said the worst-performing municipalities owed a whopping R150 billion in debt.
Makwetu briefed a joint meeting of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Standing Committee on Appropriations.
The state-owned freight, rail and ports entity released its mixed-bag financial performance on Monday, which showed the company’s revenue had grown by 1.6%, while it received yet another qualified audit.
