Chairperson, it is that time of the year again and I actually feel very sorry for hon Godi and the members of the public accounts committee, who sit for many, many hours scrutinising the accounts of many departments, and come before this House to present their reports. They do very extensive work and I do not believe that as Parliament, we should simply brush over the findings of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa.
Therefore, I believe it is important that we really focus on the many recommendations that they are bringing before us today in the respective reports. In particular, we see a recurrence of certain practices which we must really root out in the departments. Just like every other year, Scopa again recommends that officials responsible for irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, or those who ignore supply chain management regulations, be disciplined in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA. We would like to fully support that. Yet the question remains, how and when will this happen?
Whilst the very important work of Scopa could be considered as history by the time that it reaches this House, the recurrent nature of the weaknesses and trends that have been identified is really a matter of grave concern. I see even our hon Finance Minister has preferred to leave because it must be difficult for him. He painstakingly processes budgets and adjustment budgets, and yet departments come back with wasteful expenditure.
Cope is concerned about the absence of visible and well-publicised consequences for failure or misconduct. It seems as if the Auditor-General, AG, and Scopa make recommendations and that is the end of it. The people of South Africa want to see that justice prevails, that people who are guilty of dereliction of duty, fraud and corruption are disciplined and, where applicable, hauled before the criminal courts.
Where is the executive? It is a matter of grave concern that our executive is not here. Scopa processes are mostly with directors-general, but at the end of it, it is money wasted for which the executive should account. Therefore, we would like to suggest that going forward, we must focus on a categorised database of Scopa findings and their recommendations, and that these be compiled and presented to portfolio committees, and that we regularly go through them within our portfolio committees. This could become a highly effective management tool for oversight committees, members of the executive and the CEOs. Thank you, Chairperson. [Time expired.] [Applause.]