Durban - The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has given the Zulu Royal Household Trust an ultimatum to provide a detailed report on what has been done to deal with irregular and fruitless expenditure totalling R28.08 million.
Scopa also demanded to know what action had been taken against officials who were responsible for the transgressions. The call was made in a report presented before the KwaZulu-Natal legislature last week, which also called for the officials to provide details of all assets that fall under the entity for verification. According to the report, of the 6 987 assets which were under investigation in the trust, only 1 142 have been verified.
The committee said the report, which should be delivered by January 31 next year, should include among other details:
Progress made in the investigations into financial transgressions, including time-frames for the completion of the investigations.
Steps taken against responsible officials, including details of disciplinary action taken against them and steps taken to recover any losses incurred over the past years.
The report, which was presented by Scopa chairperson Maggie Govender, noted that the Zulu Royal Household Trust had incurred irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling R28.08m in the prior years without any investigation being conducted or steps taken to prevent this.
However, opposition parties have expressed reservations about the prospects of the resolutions being passed about the entity, including calls for action against officials responsible.
According to the DA, the call by Scopa underlined a lack of capacity in the Royal Trust, which had been a consistent feature in the past. DA leader and committee member Francois Rodgers said the government should appoint appropriately skilled officials to manage the entity. “The royal house is a very important institution in this province, and as such the government should underline this by ensuring that it is occupied by individuals who are fit for purpose,” he said.
Rodgers lamented the countless calls that had been made over the years for responsible officials to be made to account without any evidence that this was being done. “There needs to be a commitment to get things right at the institution otherwise we will continue to have the same resolutions getting formulated without any visible outcome.”
According to the IFP’s Lourens de Klerk, the Scopa resolutions were not likely to be implemented because there had been no bold move taken against senior officials at the entity in the past. “Until somebody gets fired or some stern warning is issued against the fingered officials, the problem in the entity is not going to end. There are instances that raise questions as to whether some officials are enjoying some form of protection,” he said.
In the past, there have been concerns that the affairs of the royal household were not properly handled.
Many have insisted that if the entity was properly managed it would lead to the royal household being able to handle its own affairs without relying on the public purse for its upkeep.