1. Hon.members, it’s true that the AG’s report shows that a culture of impunity reigns where SCM deviations and consequence management for Material Irregularities is weak.
2. As elected leaders we do have the power and mandate to use all reports to ensure that there is drastic intervention in red and yellow faces to ensure green faces on the AG’s next report. This is an indictment on all of us. Hon.members I am sure you will agree to apologise as a collective.
3. KZN’s R12, 4 billion irregular-spend is the highest in the country and it is left for all to see the Hon. Premier waging the transparency war to deal with further irregular expenditure.
4. The vicious cycle Hon. MEC’s and members is that once budgets are mismanaged, service delivery fails and two negative things emerge: public protests and litigation against the state. None of these we can afford anymore.
5. The Minority Front has argued before that either all departments screen SCM officials properly or run the risk of Material irregularities or do a skills audit and provide the necessary training to SCM officials or labour court decisions would not favour departments and consequence management becomes “water under the bridge”.
6. Hon.members the AG’s report is atleast 18 months after the events and of concern to the Minority Front is the weakening power of Chapter 9 institutions; the damming evidence before the Zondo and PIC Commissions; the role of corporate banks in the looting of South African tax-payers monies.
7. Where to from here? Manipulating budgets have a limited lifespan. At some point we must debate the external pressures of stakeholder such as tenderpreneurs and unions, Hon. members.
8. For us as MPL’s there is need for more sittings and portfolio committee meetings to focus on more administrative oversight, giving the necessary time to extract meaningful and useful information from various reports. Scopa needs to now demand that accounting officers, senior managers and board members take full responsibility for their fiduciary duties.
9. Thank you.

HON. S. Thakur- Rajbansi