Pretoria - Government is considering linking the performance of top officials - particularly Director Generals - to that of the department, in a bid to address financial mismanagement in the public sector.
The minister in the Presidency responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, on Thursday told a Good Governance Conference that government remained concerned about the state of financial mismanagement at various departments and state institutions.
"It's an issue that is of serious concern to us when departments continue to get audit disclaimers with no changes or improvement in financial management... a serious change of attitude on the part of humans is required," Chabane said.
According to the minister, managers cannot plead ignorance when questions about their department's financial performance are raised.
"There is something which is not right. For instance a department may get an audit disclaimer but a DG will still get a performance bonus even if the department has not performed. We have to find a way of linking the individual's performance to that of the department," he said.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, organiser of the conference, had earlier suggested that corruption was what stood in the way of good governance in many countries and that it had led to the destruction of trust for state institutions.
"Good governance is part of the governments' respecting the Constitution, more importantly sticking with promises such as halving poverty by 2014 and sticking to the Millennium Development Goals, those are the promises, if kept, that promote good governance," she said.
The Department of Correctional Services is by far the worst-affected department, having received qualified reports for nine consecutive years with the Auditor General (AG) this month highlighting about R483 million in unauthorised spending. More than R80 million went missing from the Justice Department due to corruption.
DGs are also expected to play a crucial role in delivering on the performance contracts President Jacob Zuma signed with ministers earlier this year. In a meeting with them last week, Zuma urged the DGs to oversee the progress of Delivery Agreements that different clusters are currently in the process of signing. .
The much-talked about agreements are part of the 12 Outcomes approach approved by Cabinet earlier this year to enable better government service delivery.
On Thursday, Chabane said he would be meeting with the Auditor General and other relevant institutions to gather all accounting information and get an insight into where the challenges lie in the financial management of departments.
"We want to make sure that our limited resources are used effectively and efficiently to achieve value for money. This will be an important contribution we can make to Outcome 12 which is about building an efficient and effective public service," he said.
The Department of Public Service and Administration, National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs are said to be developing a plan to ensure that municipalities' Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) were directly linked to the delivery agreements. The plans will be tabled next year in line with Finance Minister Pravin Gordan's budget allocations which are expected to reflect the new priorities.
Chabane told the conference delegates that the delivery forums, comprising different stakeholders, will be monitored regularly with the aim of unblocking challenges where they may exist. Zuma will also have quarterly meetings with ministers to assess progress in the delivery of the commitments they signed with him.
"We are confident and pleased with the journey we have traveled and that our quest to build a performance orientated state us taking shape and be able to achieve our goals," Chabane added.
