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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for immediate action by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier, Sihle Zikalala, and provincial Legislature Speaker, Nontembeko Boyce, against KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, following her Department’s ongoing failure to submit its 2020/21 Annual Report for scrutiny.

The call comes after a Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa) hearing into the Department’s finances had to be cancelled for a second time today due to the lapse in procedure.

Scopa plays a vital role in holding MECs and their Department's finances to account and in the fight against corruption. The DA regards the MEC and her Department’s failure, yet again, to submit the Annual Report as an insult to the Legislature.

KZN’s Department of Health had a vital role to play in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, with huge amounts of funding transferred from other Departments to support the effort. This makes it all the more important that these funds are properly accounted for.

The Department’s Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Procurement Report has already shown that corruption took place within Supply Chain Management (SCM). Despite this damning information, the MEC and her Department continue to shirk in their responsibility to account to elected public representatives.

The questions that demand answers are: what is the MEC hiding in the 2020/21 Annual Report? Why can it not be produced when the Department has previously done so?

The AG has already raised several very urgent financial governance issues and mismanagement by MEC Simelane-Zulu and her Department. In its Briefing Note to SCOPA, several other worrying findings were also highlighted. These include;
- The Department’s audit has remained unchanged from a qualified opinion for the past five years, with no or little improvement on internal control in some instances
- The root causes for this stagnation include, amongst others, slow response from management in addressing audit findings reported from prior years, the non-implementation of proper control systems for asset management, supply chain management, expenditure for goods and services, accruals payable not recognised and reporting on pre-determined objectives
- Leadership’s failure to exercise adequate oversight and monitoring to ensure all laws and regulations were followed
- The Department’s failure to fill the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
- Increased irregular expenditure by R2 billion to a record high of R11,55 billion
- Failure to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that disciplinary steps were taken against officials who had incurred unauthorised and irregular expenditure as required by section 38(1)(h)(iii) of the PFMA and;
- The Department being a defendant on various litigation matters relating to medical negligence and claims against the state amounting to R26,23 billion.

The DA strongly believes that the MEC must not only answer to these audit findings but also produce her Department’s Annual Report in order for public representatives to compare finances to actual outcomes achieved.

We urge the Premier and the Speaker to hold the MEC and her Department to account for their ongoing failure, which is making a mockery of the Legislature.

Issued by DA KZN Spokesperson on Health, Dr Rishigen Viranna, MPL