Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has been asked by the MK Party to institute a forensic investigation into the 2025 aborted Budget, which cost the taxpayer million of rands.
Image: Thobile Mathonsi, Independent Newspapers.
The ANC has dismissed the uMkhonto weSizwe Party's (MKP) request for a special forensic audit into the aborted 2025 national budget speech, calling it "frivolous" and motivated by "political posturing".
Imraan Subrathie, the ANC Study Group on Standing Committee on Auditor-General Whip and MP, said the request did not warrant a special audit, as the information requested could be reported by the National Treasury and respective organs of state through the Auditor-General South Africa's (AGSA) annual auditing of public institutions.
The ANC was responding to a letter MKP Chief Whip Mzwanele Manyi had written to the AG, Tsakani Maluleke, calling for a full forensic audit into the aborted February 2025 Budget Speech, seeking to find whether it amounted to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The speech had to be postponed on February 19 despite Parliament having made all necessary preparations for the Budget to be delivered, with various parties, including the DA, halting the budget due to a disagreement over the increase of Value Added Tax (VAT).
The aborted budget speech is believed to have cost tax payers R2.3 million.
In the letter to the AG, Manyi said millions of rands were squandered on logistics, security, printing, travel, consultancy, and media arrangements for a speech that was ultimately not delivered
"This debacle is yet another glaring example of the so-called Government of National Unity's (GNU) failure to govern responsibly," Manyi said.
“The failure to table the budget represents an unprecedented governance failure, yet millions of rands were already spent on preparatory processes that yielded no outcome.
"We call on your office to urgently investigate and quantify expenditures, which now constitute fruitless and wasteful spending,” the letter to the AG reads.
MK Party parliamentary chief whip Mzwanele Manyi has called on the Auditor-General to institute an investigation over the February aborted Budget speech.
Image: Chris Collingridge / Independent Newspapers
However, the ANC in Parliament slammed these assertions.
"The request made by the MK Party is frivolous and will lead to the organs of state incurring additional audit fees expenditure as an audit comes at a cost," Subrathie said.
"We believe that through the AGSA annual auditing of public institutions, the matter requested by the MK Party can be covered," he said.
The AGSA on Tuesday confirmed receipt of the MKP's letter, saying it will consider the request and respond in writing after following its regulatory requirements and due process.
AGSA spokesperson, Harold Maloka, emphasised that the office conducts annual regularity audits of government departments and Parliament, reporting any material irregularities publicly.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to table a third version of the Budget on May 21 following an agreement within the GNU regarding the scrapping of the VAT increase.
A source within the National Executive Committee of the ANC said the party was not fazed by the MKP’s request, saying a budget had to be tabled whether they liked it or not.
He said that parliamentary discussions and debates were not cast in stone.
“Parliament is meant for debates and it is trial and error. Matters have to be ventilated to the core and the Budget is no different,” the source said.
Treasury Director-General, Duncan Pieterse, had confirmed that the money to pay for the Budget Speech would come out of taxpayers' pockets.
However, he said that the costs incurred by the department for the Budget process did not constitute fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“The costs incurred by the department for the Budget process mainly relate to travel, accommodation, advertising, etc. The cost associated with the past two budgets does not constitute fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” Pieterse said.
Cape Argus