AUDITOR GENERAL BLASTS ACCOUNTANT GENERAL

MBABANE – Auditor General (AG) Themba Phestecia Nxumalo has dropped a bombshell, saying public funds are not safe in Accountant General Fanisile Mabila’s hands.

Nxumalo alleges in her latest report, tabled in Parliament on Friday, that Mabila overrode, breached and ignored government accounting controls.

This is contained in the Auditor General’s report for the 2013/2014 financial year, as tabled by Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini when he delivered the budget speech.

The Auditor General said the Accountant General made a number of transactions without the approval of Parliament or the Ministry of Finance and disregarded provisions of the Finance Management Act, as well as the Appropriations Act.

She said on some occasions, Mabila delayed payments, which in turn cost government substantial amounts in penalties.

She said Mabila’s responsibility was to strengthen internal controls where lacking.

"Instead, she overrode, breached and ignored those controls. Therefore, this indicates that the public purse is not safe in her hands and hence unprotected," Nxumalo said.

Nxumalo pointed out that the Accountant General failed to honour an undertaking she had made, to reconcile accounts.

She said there was no improvement noted but the situation worsened as the accounts continued to be pervasive every year.

Nxumalo said, procedurally, accounts were reconciled on a monthly basis but the accountant general’s office did it at the end of the financial year.

She said this was as a result of government ministries and departments burdening Mabila with the duty when they were supposed to be doing it themselves.

She made an example of government’s investment accounts for the last financial year, which were overdrawn, without Mabila having sought and granted approval from Parliament.

"Also, the compatibility and integration of the entire Government Accounting System (GAS), Income Tax Administration System, (ITAS), Customs Systems and Central Bank Systems for the enhancement of the revenue system is still not addressed," the auditor general said.

She also said revenue collected by the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) was deducted with the requisite authority from the legislature and there was no evidence of any government expenditure from the proceeds.

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