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11 October 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Johan Roux
JN Boshoff Memorial lecture
From left: Prof Hendri Kroukamp (Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Science), Prof Puleng LenkaBula (Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement), Kimi Makwetu (Auditor-General South Africa), and Dr Lyndon du Plessis (Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management).
It is reported R390 billion in irregular expenditure has been accumulated over the past 10 years since the 2008-09 financial year. Local government has experienced an upward trend from R3 billion to R21 billion, while an increase from R1 billion to R51 billion has been seen at provincial government level.

Fixing the crisis 

South Africa’s global credit quality has deteriorated as a result of poor financial performance.  This is evidenced by the numerous downgrades from Moody’s over the past few years. The Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu proposes that accountability has the potential to resolve the issue.

Makwetu presented this year’s JN Boshoff Memorial Lecture titled: Accountability as a basis for service delivery and economic growth at the University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein Campus on Wednesday 9 October 2019. 

“The whole idea of accountability as a basis for service delivery and economic growth is a pursuit that needs to be tackled from different angles because auditors are not going to succeed if the tone at the top in the institutions is not at the right place.”

Auditing irregularities remain a cause for concern 
The Auditor-General referred to auditing irregularities as an imbalance between people, money, and material. He alluded to the need to “narrow the space for the abuse of public resources” by escalating the level of preventive controls so that materials are paid for and delivered. The Amendment Act becomes instrumental in achieving this.

President Cyril Ramaphosa proclaimed 1 April 2019 as the official commencement date of the Public Audit Amendment Act (Act No. 5 of 2018) which introduced new mechanisms to ensure that audit findings are properly addressed and recommendations are implemented.  The Act is a tool to root out material irregularities such as fraud, theft, non-compliance with or contravention of legislation, or a breach of a fiduciary duty.

Expanding the scope of auditors

The Act empowers auditors to enforce accountability in the form of referring irregularities to public bodies for further investigation, recommending binding remedial actions, and issuing certificates of debt.

According to Makwetu accountability means that citizens’ rights to service delivery are respected. “Improved accountability speaks directly to the government’s ability to appropriately manage public resources to the benefit of the citizens they serve. It created a solid foundation for service delivery to take place and for the citizens to tangibly experience and feel the vision set by the constitution.” 

For service delivery and economic growth to manifest, accountability in the public sector needs to become second nature. The role of auditors in ensuring this shift is therefore of utmost importance.

News Archive

Prof Van den Oever gives students a different perspective
2016-05-06

Description: Prof Van den Oever gives students a different perspective Tags: Prof Van den Oever gives students a different perspective

Prof Annie van den Oever from the Netherlands presented a series of guest lectures on media technologies to students of the Film and Visual Media Programme at the University of the Free State (UFS). Here from left is Chris Vorster, lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts, Prof Van den Oever, and Dr Pieter Venter, Senior lecturer at Drama and Theatre Arts.
Photo: Jóhann Thormählen

She played a part in conceptualising the Film and Visual Media Programme at the University of the Free State (UFS), and sees film from a perspective different from most young South Africans.

According to Chris Vorster, lecturer of the UFS BA Honours degree in Film and Visual Media, this is one of the reasons why Prof Annie van den Oever’s visit is of such great value. The actor, who is a lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts, believes it is important to expose his students to influences outside their normal experience.

Prof Van den Oever, an extraordinary professor at the UFS since 2011, presented a series of guest lectures on media technologies from 11-14 April 2016 at the Audio Visual Studio on the Bloemfontein Campus. She is a senior researcher for Film at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and an Associated Researcher for Film at Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne, in France.

Another milieu

“It is invaluable for students, in any field of study, to receive as many influences from the outside. Therefore, it is important to have someone here from another milieu and context. And academically, she is outstanding,” says Vorster.

Vorster’s students are also exposed to practical expertise from the industry in the country, not only academics.

Relationship with UFS

Prof Van den Oever says she usually visits the UFS twice a year. Her recent lecture series on media technologies was about the power of visual and film culture today, and how you can understand its powers. “Why strange effects work strongly and why the strange is inserted, because people respond strongly to them,” she says.

Prof van den Oever enjoys meeting new people, and often works with colleagues from the UFS on various projects. She also is full of praise for the management of the university. “It is great to work across cultures, and be part of a university in transition.”

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