CHARLES MOLELE
JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL Services Minister Ronald Lamola has come under fire from Parliament after it emerged that his department has failed to set up proper financial controls in the past financial year.
This comes after his department tabled a report before Parliament on Tuesday showing that it has recorded an irregular expenditure of a whopping R1.2bn due to poor performance.
The report further showed that the department has a vacancy rate of 23.4% at senior management level.
The Justice and Correctional Services Department was briefing the committee on its fourth-quarter performance for 2019-20 and its first-quarter performance for 2020-21.
The multiparty committee, which conducts oversight over the Departments of Justice and Correctional Services and its entities, spoke with one voice and expressed grave concerns about the “declining performance” of the department, going as far as describing it as “dismal”.
The committee also went as far as suggesting that the department needs a rescue plan rather than a turnaround plan.
However, some members of the committee said no rescue plan will work due to the absence of permanent, reliable and credible leadership in the department.
“Most of you [senior officials attending the meeting] have been with the department for many years and could not turn it around. It is clear that outside assistance is needed,” said committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe.
“We cannot in good conscious support that you should not have budget cuts when you are not able to spend the money that is given to you.”
The committee resolved that it will consider requesting the assistance of the Public Service Commission to address the department’s non-performance and systematic challenges in an effort to improve the situation.
The committee also noted that targets were lowered last year as a result of poor performance and are now being lowered even further, as the department is still unable to meet targets.
“We need a serious intervention as this committee does not intend to leave a legacy of supporting a declining performance in the department and be party to your failure,” said Magwanishe.
“The department must remember that for us these are not just numbers and targets, but rather the lives of the people we represent. You have many entities in your stable that have been improving year on year and some have had consistent clean audits for close to two decades. Why are you requesting help?”
The committee said that the department cannot complain about proposed budget cuts and then continue to miss targets and under-spend on its budget.
In May, Lamola told the portfolio committee that the COVID-19 pandemic will severely impact his department’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
He said he was expecting 7% of his budget or at least R1.9 billion to be cut as a result of re-prioritisation by the Finance Minister.
“It’s a huge amount of money. Indications are that Justice to not be less than R1.5 billion or Correction Services also it would not be less than R1.5 billion, it will be more than that,” said Lamola.
“So, there will be budget cuts also for other ones in these entities within our space. We have not yet had a plan of how we are going to deal with budget cuts because it has not yet been confirmed exactly how much.”
(COMPILED BY INSIDE POLITICS STAFF)
