This revelation was made by the Auditor-General’s North West office, led by the provincial acting head, Mthokozisi Sibisi, in a joint virtual presentation before said department and its entities, as well as the North West Provincial Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Thursday. 

Sibisi and company are of the view that the absence of internal controls and consequence management is what is holding the department back in terms of preventing irregular expenditure and achieving clean audits. This department incurred R81 million in irregular expenditure in the 2019/20 period and the Auditor-General’s office attributes this to the controversial Taung Hotel School and a contract with Mega Works Trading Enterprise 200, both under the tourism branch of the department.

The Taung Hotel School came under intense scrutiny, when media reports surfaced in 2019 alleging the department had coughed up R4,4 million on a boom gate system at the school and a further R3,4 million on a fence at the school. Prior to the refurbishments, the tourism division had purchased the entire school grounds for R5 million. Scopa Chairperson, Job Dliso, is quoted as saying at the time that it is inexplicable how the gate and the fence could cost more than “the amount the hotel school was bought for”.

The AG’s office says internal controls need to be implemented strictly and consistently, with a zero-tolerance approach to deviations. From a liquidity perspective, the department is able to function adequately and meet its obligations. Vacancies are said to be high but are not concerning, because they aren’t that of senior/key positions.

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