LOBAMBA – Sixteen years after millions meant for elderly grants could not be traced, the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office has admitted that it has failed to recover the money and has since referred the matter to the Losses Committee.
The issue resurfaced yesterday during the appearance of the office before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where officials were responding to audit queries raised by Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula.
According to the Auditor General’s Financial Audit Report for the year ended March 31, 2024, the Department of Social Welfare still has unretired cash advances amounting to E67 671 963.88 dating back to the 2010 financial year.
Matsebula said the money had originally been issued to government officials as imprests for the payment of elderly grants in constituencies when beneficiaries were still receiving grants in cash.
However, the cash advances were never retired against the wages advance suspense account as required under government financial regulations.
The auditor general stated that in the 2010 financial year alone, E26 941 081.70 remained unretired and the amount continued accumulating over the years to the current E67.6 million, with no recoveries made from the public officers responsible for the funds.
Matsebula advised the controlling officer to investigate the matter, hold the officers involved accountable and ensure the retirement of the cash advances.
He also directed that the matter be reported to the Losses Committee and relevant authorities for further investigation.
The controlling officer had previously informed the AG that internal investigations had been conducted, but were unsuccessful because some documents were incomplete while others could no longer be located. Officials who had handled the transactions at the time were reportedly asked to provide reports explaining what transpired, but no meaningful progress was made.
The matter was also reported to the Royal Eswatini Police Service. However, the AG raised concern that supporting evidence showing the progress of police investigations, as well as proof that the matter had been formally submitted to the Losses Committee, had not been provided.
Appearing before PAC yesterday, Principal Secretary in the DPM’s Office Siboniso Nkambule conceded that the matter had become difficult to resolve because of the passage of time and the disappearance of supporting documents.
“AG is right, this is an old issue. It dates back to when elderly grants were paid in cash. We followed it up, reported it to the police, but we have not been able to recover the money and have since reported it to the Losses Committee.”
PAC Chairperson Madala Mhlanga acknowledged that the issue was long outstanding and said the referral to the Losses Committee should have happened much earlier.
The AG insisted that the DPM’s Office must still provide documentary proof that the matter had been reported to police, including details of how investigations progressed, together with the relevant Losses Committee documentation.
Mhlanga also instructed the PS to ensure that all documentation relating to police investigations and the referral process was submitted to the committee.
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