It is unacceptable that the Department of e-Government incurred irregular expenditure of R31,9 million for the 2018/2019 financial year.
According to the annual report for e-Government this irregular expenditure occurred as the department did not follow the required procurement processes.
Furthermore, the annual report indicates that some of the irregular expenditure relates to instances where the Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes was not followed.
This irregular expenditure is concerning as it means that the open-tender system was not adhered to.
An open tender system is important to ensure that all suppliers on the database of the department are given a fair opportunity to provide goods and services to government.
According to the annual report the following amounts was spent irregularly:
| Incident | Disciplinary steps taken/criminal proceedings | 2018/19 |
| Non-compliance to procurement processes | Investigations finalised and warning letters issued | R28 487 000,00 |
| Non-compliance to SCM processes | Finalisation of the investigation report | R2 800 000,00 |
| Non-compliance to SCM processes- Lease contract | Investigation will be initiated in 2019/20 financial year | R660 000,00 |
| TOTAL | R31 947 000,00 | |
The DA will be closely monitoring the progress of the investigation into the non-compliance of the SCM processes and will be tabling questions to ascertain what measures will be put in place to clamp down on irregular expenditure.