Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

09 September 2025

1-minute read

Finance MEC Lebogang Maile stated at a media briefing on Sunday that the Gauteng government has recorded 4.2 billion rand in irregular expenditure in the 2024/2025 financial year.

While the 22 clean audits that were recorded do show growing accountability in government, the MEC has sounded a warning for issues of irregular spending and weak control.

Acting Deputy Director General for Financial Governance Jafta Mhlongo says that irregular expenditure occurs when government departments do not follow proper regulations in the procurement of services. Disregarding the public finance management act, treasury regulations, and the related instruction notes that accompany the procurement processes leads to non-compliance with supply-chain regulations.

According to Mhlongo, records from 2020 to present day depict a “huge downward spiral,” showing a reduction in irregular expenditure compared to previous financial years:

• 2020/2021 – R10 billion
• 2021/2022 – R9 billion
• 2022/2023 – R5.8 billion
• 2023/2024 – R5.2 billion
• 2024/2025 – R4.2 billion

Expenditure management and procurement compliance has been the lowest in the Health Department, although Mhlongo says that the recent audit shows that issues in these departments “have been reducing.”

Post-audit, measures to ensure greater and speedier improvement are being put in place so that the same issues do not recur when the audit for the new financial year is released. Departments with non-compliance have been identified and management has been notified of action that must be taken. The focus should be on “dealing with the root causes” of non-compliance for resolutions to be reached, says Mhlongo.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Jafta Mhlongo here.