The Star reports that despite maintaining its unqualified audit opinion, the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) underspent its budget by R196 million in the 2018-19 financial year.
“The department materially underspent the budget by R196,176,000 on appropriation per programme,” Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu revealed in his report submitted to Parliament. In 2017-18 the department had underspent its budget by R211m. In 2018-19, the department’s administration underspent by R76m, inspection and enforcement services by R43m, public employment services by R62m, and labour and industrial relations services by R13m. Director-general Thobile Lamati blamed the underspending on internal promotions and vacant posts. He also blamed it on the delay in the delivery of ICT equipment for inspectors and provinces, as well as the delay in promulgating the National Minimum Wage Act. He said the action to be taken to avoid recurrence of the audit finding would be to fill the vacant posts. Among other findings, Makwetu noted that department had not taken disciplinary action against officials who had incurred irregular expenditure, the majority of which was caused by the non-adherence to procurement and contract management regulations. DEL Minister Thulas Nxesi noted that the department had met the annual performance target with an 80% score and that the planning process would seek to further improve on the annual performance.
- Read the full original of the above report by Mayibongwe Maqhina on page 24 of The Star of 26 September 2019
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