Citizen's Special Report

14 CITIZEN’S REPORT I O ON THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNMENT’S COVID-19 INITIATIVES HOW GOVERNMENT HAS RESPONDED The response to the first special report was very positive. Inside and outside government, there was appreciation for the real-time audit approach we followed and the fact that we were able to report comprehensively on the use of covid-19 funds within four months of the fiscal relief package being announced. As and when we picked up findings or made observations, we immediately alerted the accounting officers or authorities of auditees we were auditing so that they could take corrective action. We also engaged with all the affected ministers and members of the executive council on the findings and observations in the first report to which they should pay attention. We found them to be committed and ready to do what is necessary for the covid-19 initiatives to succeed and to support the accounting officers and authorities to address the identified shortcomings. We did not have an opportunity to brief all the portfolio and public accounts committees in Parliament and provincial legislatures. We have, however, taken note of the actions these oversight structures have taken to call accounting officers and executive authorities to account for the management of the funds entrusted to them. We briefed the fusion centre within a week of tabling the first special report, providing findings, information and data. We also held workshops to support the centre’s process of identifying exceptions and irregularities highlighted through the covid-19 audit that warrant criminal investigation and law-enforcement interventions. Actions speak louder than words More important than words, of course, is action. Most accounting officers and authorities of auditees where we reported shortcomings in controls and processes or matters that required investigation, resolved to take action. In total, 37% of these auditees implemented all the actions they committed to when the first special report was issued. The remainder have at least partially implemented the commitments since we engaged them in August 2020. However, the impact of these actions will not yet be fully apparent as most of the transactions we reported on in our second report took place before the committed actions were implemented. As it is important to see that concrete action is taken in response to our audit findings and observations, here is a snapshot of some of the corrections made across the 16 initiatives in our audit so far. Payment of Ters benefits Before: In the first special report, we reported on various incorrect Ters payments made and flagged a high number of payments that required further investigation. After: By 20 October 2020, the UIF had recovered about R3,4 billion that had been paid out incorrectly.