Education
With regard to the Auditor-General of South Africa’s findings on the special reports on the financial management of the government’s COVID-19 initiatives:
- What are the (a) findings that have been made against her Department and (b) remedial action that has been taken against the respective authorities involved in the procurement;
- whether any quality control measures have been put in place to ensure that schools receive the correct number of material and material of the correct quality, which had been purchased; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether her Department has incurred or risks incurring (a) wasteful and fruitless expenditure and/or (b) irregular expenditure as a result of the poor control measures related to its PPE expenditure?
(1) (a) The AG concluded in the Final Management Report that there were some findings of irregularities and internal control deficiencies in respect of the supply of PPE. The findings were in relationto the procurement of the cloth masks, the quality of the masks and thermometers, and the lack of guidelines in respect of the storage of the PPE at schools. These findings were based on visits to four (0.2%) of our schools. Similar findings were made for almost all provinces.
(b) No remedial action was needed since no official contravened any rule(s).
(2) Yes, schools were supplied with a tool that indicated the quantities that were ordered for the school. Schools reported any quality issues with the items delivered. The service provider was then contacted to replace the items where necessary.
(3) No wasteful or fruitless or irregular expenditure was identified or incurred with regards to the PPE procurement.
