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The departmental audit outcomes for the 2022/23 financial year released by the Auditor-General today, emphasises that residents continue to bear the brunt of criminally poor coordination and mismanagement by the Northern Cape’s provincial government.

While administrative departments like the Office of the Premier and the Northern Cape Provincial Treasury received clean audits, financial mismanagement and poor planning at major service delivery departments like Health, Education, and Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development & Land Reform continues to rob residents of much-needed services. The lack of improvement in audit outcomes are mirrored in the ongoing service delivery crises gripping the province, ranging from challenges in learner transport to inadequate disaster relief management.

It is particularly worrying that ongoing interventions at Health failed to deliver an improved audit outcome. This speaks to a lack of leadership and a lack of political will to get things done.

The Northern Cape’s fiscus is far too constrained to tolerate any financial misconduct. Departments must learn to do more with limited resources, which requires putting the service delivery needs of residents first and consistently implementing consequences for those who abuse the public purse for private benefit.

We will be engaging critically with departments as they come to present their annual reports.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to make everyday life more and more expensive, residents deserve to know that every cent of their taxes are being spent in an accountable, prudent manner.

Issued by - Fawzia Rhoda, MPL