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The Gauteng Department of e-Government has once again incurred irregular expenditure of over R203 million for the second quarter of the 2020/2021 financial year. This information was revealed in the second quarter report of the Department of e-Government for the 2020/2021 financial year.

According to the report the following programmes incurred irregular expenditure:

Down Low Parking contract: R327, 000.

Email-As-A-Service contract: R12 million.

SITA GBN contract: R191 million.

It is extremely concerning to note that the SITA GBN contract incurred irregular expenditure of R191 million, which is a clear indication that there are poor internal controls, lack of leadership and officials have no clue as to what needs to be done to ensure that this department is run successfully.  The expenditure was necessitated as a result of items that were not included in the original contract but had to be supplied by SITA. A proper investigation into what led to this irregular expenditure is definitely warranted.

In addition, it is now becoming the norm that this department incurs irregular expenditure. During the 2018/2019 financial year, the department incurred irregular expenditure of R31.9 million, because it did not follow the required procurement processes.

Furthermore, the department also incurred expenditure to the amount of R328 457,000 thousand when the department appointed Finesse World -Wide and the subcontractor, Mzanzi Pest Hygiene and Cleaning to sanitize hard copy documents at the Document Management Centre (DMC).  The expenditure will most probably also qualify as irregular.

This department has been identified as a key growth area and was given a budget of R1.4 billion last year to fund key projects, like the SITA GBN contract, which is supposed to help the residents of Gauteng connect with government through the creation of an e-services portal. Portals like these are important if the provincial government is serious about improving service delivery to the residents of Gauteng, especially now with the Covid-19 pandemic, where residents are urged to maintain social distancing.

It is clear that this department lacks proper leadership and the political will to change how things are done in this department. We will be keeping a close eye on the performance of this department for the rest of the financial year as this trend of irregular expenditure cannot continue any longer. The DA has already tabled questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain exactly why this department appointed Finesse World-Wide as well as proof that the Covid-19 virus is transmitted through paper and required such extensive sanitation.

Issued by The DA