This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Business Times writes that Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke says that SA needs a "properly professionalised" civil service characterised by stability, competence and a culture of performance and accountability.
Without this there would be no real progress against the massive irregular and wasteful expenditure that continued to plague the public sector and deplete the fiscus, she has pointed out. "Beyond competence what we're seeing as a real issue is stability. If directors-general and chief financial officers don't stay long enough in their roles to build a competent team around them and a disciplined set of controls you really can't make any sustainable gains," said Maluleke. The issue of tenure was problematic and it was up to the politicians to address it, she noted. "All our leaders across both spheres of government need to understand the impact of this level of instability. Government institutions need to be characterised by performance and a critical part of that is stability at key levels," the AG explained. The 2019/20 government audit outcomes report Maluleke tabled last week showed irregular expenditure of R54bn, which was down from R66bn the year before but only because almost a third of government departments and state-owned entersprises (SOEs) failed to disclose irregular expenditure. "The truth is it hasn't improved much. The disciplines and financial controls that ought to characterise how procurement is done are not there,” Maluleke said. Meanwhile, new powers given to her office two years ago are making themselves felt: "We're seeing a greater level of responsiveness. Many accounting officers are taking the action they need to." But beyond responding to specific irregularities they neeedd to look at the internal controls that were failing to prevent these irregularities, the AG stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Chris Barron at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page