Department of Labour's reports

AG qualifies Department of Labour's reports (again) - DA
Anchen Dreyer
18 September 2008

Statement issued by Anchen Dreyer MP September 18 2008

Financial mismanagement of Department of Labour: Minister must explain

For the fourth year in a row the Department of Labour has received a qualified opinion from the Auditor-General. Given that this is the department responsible for piloting a skills training system aimed at making South Africa's economy globally competitive and, furthermore, for giving South Africans who have been denied opportunities by our apartheid past the chance to obtain skills that will allow them to find jobs, this is a disaster. It is time for Minister Mdladlana to explain why he has allowed his department to fall into such a state of chaos and what he intends to do to rescue it.

The qualified report for the financial year ending March 2008 was mainly due to significant shortcomings in the management of the department's asset register, inefficiencies in its internal controls systems, and non-compliance with applicable legislation.

South Africa is plagued by a serious skills crisis and dramatically high levels of unemployment in the country, especially among the youth. Training unskilled and unemployed young people, and helping them to find jobs, are some of the key responsibilities of this department. However, if the department cannot manage its own internal affairs satisfactorily, it is not surprising that it has failed to fulfil its core duties and that thousands of South Africans without the skills that the workplace needs continue to roam the streets.

The National Skills Fund, whose financial statements form part of the department's annual report, also received a qualified audit report. It is notable that the Fund did not comply with applicable legislation, and in particular the Skills Development Levies Act (an act initiated by the Labour Department itself) and the Public Finance Management Act (the act which outlines basic requirements for financial responsibility by government institutions).

This department has been struggling for several years under the inept and clownish behaviour of Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, masquerading as leadership, for long enough. The minister has failed to appoint a new director-general since the incumbent resigned at the end of 2007. While the annual reports of most of the controversy-ridden Setas are still outstanding, the reports of ProductivitySA, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund show that they are also all in trouble. Very little is going right in this department.

Statement issued by Anchen Dreyer MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson for labour, September 18 2008