Cape Town - Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke has lambasted two vital transport entities for failing to meet their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on job creation and infrastructure upgrades.
The AG’s office was briefing the National Transport Department on its entities’ annual reports before the committee on Tuesday.
The AG slapped Prasa with another disclaimer after material findings on compliance with laws for 2021/22.
Though the AG highlighted that the majority of the entities were achieving their key performance indicators, officials issued a caveat on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (Sanral) for the Transport Department’s 2024 vision.
Critical in Minister Fikile Mbalula’s wish to turn around the transport system and the government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, Prasa has achieved only 19% of its targets on job creation and infrastructure upgrades.
Sanral achieved only 67% for the same targets.
“Prasa’s performance is at its lowest at 81% non-achievement, and this relates to the key commissioned KPIs, such as the targeted numbers for Metrorail, full electrical train services, number of Western Cape inter-lockings, etc.” the report said.
Interlockings refers to railway signalling, which manages the arrangement of signal apparatus to prevent head-on collisions.
AG officials said Prasa was battling with the threat of vandalism and theft of infrastructure.
The AG said all the other entities, bar the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), had received clean audits.
The DLCA did not meet its targets on timely production and delivery of licences between November 2021 and January 2022 due to a breakdown of its machine.
IFP MP Khethamabala Sithole said the AG’s reports gave a lens to the department’s entities’ failures.
Khethambala and DA MP Christian Hunsinger said the AG had powers to enforce recommendations, but they had opted not to use them.
Hunsinger said he was frustrated by all the previous AG presentations, because “we have heard these repeat findings for so many years”.
“This AG presentation has been presented in a style where they seem to have an attitude of not being a part or involved, and merely acting only as messengers of everything that’s wrong every year,” Hunsinger said.
“They’re confusing their role of being neutral and independent.”
He said there was a misalignment between the clean audits and service delivery.
“I still maintain that what we’ve seen in the AG’s reports is a very one-side performance evaluation, and does not contribute to improving in service delivery,” Hunsinger said.
He said he was dismayed that the AG referred to infrastructure, with details, in its reports, as this is usually regarded as the responsibility of the particular entities.