Durban — Members of Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) say the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s spending of 88% of its budget on workers’ salaries is a cause for concern.
The sentiment was expressed during the department’s appearance before the committee this week, where chairperson Maggie Govender accused the department of falling short in providing satisfactory answers to the committee resolutions.
“A lot of the issues that we have raised in the past appear not to have been addressed by the department, and seem to have been glossed over,” said Govender.
Areas which Scopa members said the department needs to attend to include reducing irregular expenditure and cutting down on staff debt.
In addition to this, the department was advised to consider letting out or even selling some of its buildings in order to generate income.
“It is extremely worrying to hear that 88% goes to the compensation of employees and only 12% goes towards services. You cannot have an employment agency,” Govender said.
She called on the department to seek advice from the Treasury on how it could manage the resources better, warning that failure to do this could have dire implications for the department’s ability to deliver quality education.
Another committee member, Dr Imraan Keeka, questioned the will of the department leadership to attend to matters raised by the committee, noting how some had been on the agenda repeatedly without any progress.
The department also came under fire when it emerged that it had challenged one of the findings from the office of the auditor-general (AG) and had indicated its intention to take the matter to court.
Nonhlanhla Sibiya, a senior manager in the AG’s office, told Scopa members that the department was pursuing legal action against her office, much to the shock of Scopa members.
Head of department Nkosinathi Ngcobo sought to downplay their move.
“It is not suing, but we are seeking a review of the decision taken by the AG’s office on a matter,” said Ngcobo.
He insisted, though, that they were open to a discussion with the AG’s office as opposed to legal action.
Scopa members were also not pleased to hear that the department had not paid a number of service providers, including the Special Investigating Unit.
According to committee members, the revelations displayed a department whose officials were economical with the truth.
The department has been allocated R63 billion of the province’s budget.
Sunday Tribune