WHEN MEDIOCRE JUST ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH
Earlier this year InsidePolitics pointed out that, despite a rather merry radio advert to the contrary, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) wasn’t exactly managing its finances properly.
A radio ad by the department of labour, which aired around January, stated that the UIF “achieved a milestone last year” (the 2005/06 financial year) when it was named as “one of the few government departments” to receive an unqualified report from the Auditor-General (A-G).
“That’s working for you!” the departmental spokesperson proudly claimed.
As it turns out, that ad was a little misleading. Sure the UIF did not get a qualified audit opinion from the A-G, but things were not exactly in order either. Indeed, as InsidePolitics pointed out, the UIF’s finances were rather messy.
It was a prime example of the ANC government’s attitude to public finance: mediocre is good enough. The UIF did not get a qualified audit – so it should be championed. The fact that several severe points of concern were raised in the audit was entirely overlooked.
So, the big question is: how did the UIF do this year?
All public entities are currently tabling their annual reports with parliament at the moment and the UIF tabled its report a week or so ago. Unfortunately, things have not exactly improved.
Among other problems, according to the A-G, the UIF had failed to comply with applicable legislation; there were several corrections made to the financial statements (there were overpayments of R12.8 million, for example); various matters of governance (an inability to confirm payments of around R135 million) and various other causes of concern for the Auditor-General.
True, the UIF did not get a qualification but once again, it has some way to go until things are as good as its advert led the public to believe earlier this year.
As for the bigger picture, the DA will be holding a press conference later this month on the performance of each of the 29 national departments for 2006/07. To date, 27 out of the 29 departments have tabled their reports, with only Home Affairs and Sport and Recreation still outstanding.
For the record, last year, out of those 29 departments, 10 received qualifications and only two, completely clean reports.
Will things improve this year? Watch this space.
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| Posted on 12/10/2007
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