Irregular Government Expenditure Rockets To R62BN, While AG Announces ‘Worst Audit Outcomes Ever’ For SOEs

Riyaz Patel

Auditor General Kimi Makwetu says more bailouts might be needed for South Africa’s under pressure state-owned enterprises, saying the results represent “the worst audit outcomes for SOEs ever.”

The Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) was releasing the national and provincial government’s audit results for the 2018-19 financial year in Cape Town.

Makwetu’s office audited a total of 770 national and provincial departments and entities and 14 state-owned enterprises.

“None of the SOEs managed to obtain a clean audit opinion, with the South African Post Office slipping back to a qualified audit opinion and the Development Bank of Southern Africa regressing from a clean audit in 2017-18 to a financially unqualified opinion with findings in the year under review,” he said.

The actual report is more emphatic: “The overall audit outcomes of the SOEs are the worst they have ever been.”

The 2018-19 National and Provincial Government Audit

The audit