The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has again failed to complete its long outstanding asset register, but it appears some headway is being made with the settlement of backlogged land claims.
During a briefing by the Auditor-General (AG), members of the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform heard the department received a qualified audit for the 2010/2011 financial year. This was due in part to the incomplete asset register.
Meisie Nkau, business executive at the office of the AG, noted the DRDLR had put a lot of effort into updating its immovable asset register. However, the AG was still unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to ensure the completeness of the properties recorded in the register.
The director-general of the DRDLR, Mdu Shabane, who was also present at the meeting, explained that the register was “a very complex procedure” and that the process required time and patience.
Committee member Annette Steyn, DA MP, wanted to know if the DRDLR had the internal capacity to complete the register. She added that a clear deadline needed to be set.
“The department can’t simply state that it is going to take longer to complete the asset register. We need to know when it plans to complete it and whether or not the capacity to do so exists,” she said. Shabane assured the committee that there were no capacity constraints within the department in this regard.
During the presentation, Nkau also noted that some employees of the department had been on suspension with pay for more than 60 days, the longest suspension period being 759 days, pending investigations into inappropriate conduct.
Committee member Stanley Ntapane, UDM MP, asked how a suspension period of two years was possible. Nkau explained that when an incident with an employee came up, there had to be a thorough investigation before a hearing could be conducted. In most scenarios, this was a straightforward process but sometimes it could end up being dragged out, she said. – Denene Erasmus
