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KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Department of Social Development (DSD) was again under the spotlight at a Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) hearing held yesterday relating to its 2023/2024 performance.

Before the hearing, SCOPA received a presentation by the Auditor-General (AG) regarding adverse findings around expenditure and consequence management.

The DA also raised the issue of a DSD forensic investigation launched in July 2023, by former Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube. The probe relates to the allegedly irregular appointment of senior directors and managers, senior officials with allegedly fraudulent qualifications and the supposedly irregular withdrawal of disciplinary measures against officials implicated in a R20million DSD food parcel scam.

While DSD HoD Nelisiwe Vilakazi initially claimed that she was unaware of the investigation, she quickly corrected course after the DA read out the details and confirmed that she was familiar with the investigation and had received the final report.

She was then asked to brief the committee on the report but stated she was unable to do so as she could not remember all the facts. The SCOPA chair then requested that the full report be sent to the committee as a matter of urgency.

SCOPA also pressed HOD Vilakazi and CFO Senzo Zungu on the issues of irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and loss control registers. These registers should tie back to the department’s R889million of historical irregular expenditure and R3.9million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. They should also provide the basis for assessing consequence management in relation to any instances of dodgy expenditure.

The DA also raised the issue of Nomandla Security – a name that has come up in the reports of more than one department and is linked to the irregular extension of contracts for three years or more. This, amid claims that the owners of the company are related to a former Social Development MEC.

While the HOD claimed she was not aware of the company, CFO Zungu immediately knew of it – a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

The DA will not allow these matters to rest. Amongst others, we will insist that the forensic report findings are brought before SCOPA and that errant officials are appropriately dealt with. The days of public money being squandered by officials that are not fit for purpose must end.

Issued by Tim Brauteseth, MPL - DA KZN Spokesperson on SCOPA