Corrupt officials must be jailed

Despite the loss of billions through negligence, corruption and incompetence by government officials, not a single person has been prosecuted under the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

Now Parliament’s watchdog over the public purse wants the law tightened to make it easier to prosecute those responsible for draining state coffers.

Themba Godi, chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, said yesterday the act provided for those guilty of “gross negligence” in managing public funds to be jailed for up to five years.

“I would support an amendment to the PFMA to narrowly define what constitutes a criminal offence by the head of a department assigned with the responsibility for managing public funds,” Godi said.

He was addressing journalists at the start of Scopa’s oversight drive, which will see a string of departments grilled over the dismal state of their financial management.

Scopa is concerned at the slow progress being made by a number of departments in achieving clean bills of financial health from the auditor-general.

Godi dismissed excuses by some officials that the PFMA was too strict as “a lazy argument”.

Achieving proper financial management depended on good political and administrative leadership, he said.

It was up to ministers and top officials to act against those who broke the rules.

Treasury official Jayce Nair told the National Assembly public service and administration committee yesterday that it was “unfortunate” that there had not been a single case where a case of financial misconduct had been prosecuted. - Political Bureau