Durban — The government’s response to the April 2022 flood disaster was not adequate from impact assessment to delivery of relief and this affected residents and businesses, which continue to experience hardship more than three months after the floods with little relief, the Auditor-General (AG) of South Africa has found.
AG Tsakani Maluleke presented her “real-time” audit report to Parliament’s ad hoc committee on flood disaster relief and recovery from the April floods, in Pretoria on Wednesday.
The presentation concerned the funds allocated to the affected national departments, provinces and municipalities in the aftermath of the April/ May 2022 floods. The AG briefed the committee on May 25 on its intervention to prevent and detect weaknesses in controls and its plan to report on findings.
The first special report on Wednesday contained initiatives selected for auditing, including social relief, water and sanitation – water tanker services – school mobile units, repairs to government properties, human settlements and temporary residential units.
Maluleke said that compromised control environments, pre-existing system and process deficiencies, lack of capacity and inadequate intergovernmental co-ordination weakened delivery in even the best disaster response plans.
The AG found delivery failures due to lack of capacity and inadequate project management; impact assessments not enabling appropriate planning and response; ineffective monitoring of contractors and the quality of goods and services they delivered; the overall response being too slow compared to planned milestones; and inadequate co-ordination between municipalities and provincial departments and lack of capacity among them.
Regarding procurement, the report found instances of non-compliance with requirements and potential unfair processes and disparity in pricing for similar services.
Maluleke said some of the findings were similar to those previously reported on the government’s Covid-19 response.
She stated that good practices were identified, including the establishment of oversight committees – after a commitment by the government to better oversee and monitor relief efforts and the use of funds.
Maluleke said the national Treasury provided early guidance on available funding sources and reporting requirements while the KZN provincial treasury implemented pre-audit processes to reduce the risk of procurement irregularities.
“A combined assurance approach followed with an internal audit in KZN. Payments were withheld where poor quality delivery or procurement risks were identified to avoid losses. The social relief system responded well to the disaster,” Maluleke said.
The report found there were significant delays in meeting contract timelines; conflict of interest – employees or their spouses doing business with the state; supply chain management weaknesses: instances of contracts being awarded to three companies with the same director; quotations received after contracts started; quotation amounts exceeding authorised amounts; contract value split into five quotations to the same service provider instead of entering into a contract.
It also found there were procurement risks – inexperienced service providers and shelf companies were used despite having a database of suppliers.
The AG said procurement processes were being investigated with a view of taking action against implicated officials. Payments to suppliers were being withheld until the conclusion of investigations.
In eThekwini Municipality, the AG found many areas were left without water due to water infrastructure damage and 198 water tankers were used to provide services to affected communities – 30 water tankers were selected for auditing.
The AG found higher prices paid compared with other spheres of government; and no co-ordination and monitoring of water tankering services in affected areas, and some water tankers were in a poor condition.
The AG recommended that eThekwini Metro develop a comprehensive needs assessment, and develop and implement a policy to manage water tankers.
The AG found there were delays in setting up TRUs (temporary housing units), causing homeless people to remain in mass relief shelters. Poor workmanship and non-compliance with specifications increased the risk of injury, exposure to elements and overpayments. A needs assessment was not timeously finalised, there was poor project management and delays in securing suitable land.
The AG found that 254 TRUs were built and there were 894 verified beneficiaries (a shortfall of 640 TRUs). There was a failure to meet the timeline of July 31, 2022 to construct 1 810 TRUs.
There was non-compliance with specifications per agreed contract and unit price as well as poor-quality workmanship: all TRUs inspected were defective. Wall panels were incorrectly positioned and not aligned, and there was inadequate waterproofing. Electrical connection not included in the scope of work.
Regarding education, there was an incomplete installation of mobile units: of the 53 units reported as complete, none of the 16 units sampled had been completed during a site visit and handing over had not taken place.
There were various quality defects, including poor positioning, instability, poor support, electrical non-compliance and inadequate weatherproofing.
Equipment and learning materials were not delivered and rain-damaged furniture, equipment, stationery and books had not been replaced. The AG recommended that all work be fast-tracked before payments are made.
Daily News