Lesufi shocked at double standards on corruption

The Gauteng Department of Education has noted with concern reports that suggest that the efforts aimed at rooting out corruption and maladministration are a waste of money. The Star newspaper reports today that the Department has “blown millions on audits”. This article is based on a response provided by the MEC for Education, Mr Panyaza Lesufi on 15 September 2014. The questions were in relation to forensic audits conducted at schools.

Forensic audits are instruments used to deal with misuse of public funds and corruption. The work of the Department in this regard needs to be seen in the context that the Department has a responsibility to investigate any allegations of corruption or mismanagement that comes to its attention through various channels, including whistle blowing; the Presidential and Premier’s hotlines as well as the anti-corruption hotline. Various pieces of legislation oblige the Department directly or indirectly to investigate, take action, and put in place controls to ensure financial prudence in the management of public funds.

The Department allocates money to schools to fund curriculum delivery. It therefore has a statutory obligation to ensure that these funds are spent as intended by the Public Finance Management Act with good governance and accountability. Lesufi expressed disappointment with  seems to be double standards on corruption. “it is unfortunate that the Democratic Alliance are the ones complaining about a process aimed at strengthening accountability, transparency, and financial prudence”, he said.

“Over and above this exercise being a statutory obligation, the investigations are done in the spirit of protecting the tax payers money”, said the MEC.

The MEC also emphasised that the Department commitment to clean governance at schools and has put in place a number programmes of to improve the financial maturity framework at school level. The Department has mentoring and coaching programmes provided on financial management through the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance to School Governing Bodies. The Department is currently finalising regulations to standardise financial reporting for schools. The department also conducts regular impact assessments of the training provided by evaluating schools on particular financial indicators.

In his response to the Legislature,Lesufi indicated that the Department had conducted forensic audits at less than 1% of its schools per annum.  Appropriate action has been taken where necessary and if supported by sufficient evidence against perpetrators. Over this period the Department has taken disciplinary action, opened civil cases, and reported perpetrators to the South African Revenue Services where investigations reveal non-disclosure of extra remunerative work. Where SGBs fail their fiduciary responsibilities the Department makes informed decisions in line with the provisions of the South African Schools Act. 

With regard to Glenvista High school, there were allegations of mismanagement reported by a whistle-blower. The allegations were investigated; new allegations were raised by the same whistle-blower and are currently being investigated.  In the case of Brakpan High an investigation was conducted and feedback was provided to the SGB which included a report on their own conduct. The SGB was disbanded and action is being taken against officials.

The Democratic Alliance has also requested the Department to provide the actual reports all forensic investigations conducted in the past 5 years including minutes of meetings and registers of attendance. The challenge with this request  is that the Department would have to print an estimated 20 000 pages, with the whole staff complement of the responsible section taking out three weeks of normal work that would have to be delayed to print, package and bind this report. This would also imply that the Department would fail its whistle blowing policy by disclosing the names and details of whistle blowers and third parties. This will open the Department to litigation. In the context of the article alleging wastage of money by the Department, this exercise would ironically to lead to incurring more costs.     

From the above it is clear that neither Lesufi nor the Department has protected fraudsters and corrupt officials. “We are committed to clean governance, transparency, and oversight and we will comply with any request that will not have an adverse effect on service delivery and the provision of quality education to all learners in Gauteng”  Lesufi said.