#FasttrackingReform Ismail Momoniat, Andrew Donaldson and Vusi Gumede on how money is spent in the public service @anthonybut @brankobrkic
Momo: underlying state capture was a political narrative that pulled many good people by their noses. There were lots of red flags but people didn't ask questions.
National Treasury was terribly naive putting in place an accountability framework. Focused a lot on the sexy parts but not on the practical, operational issues and how people could get round them.
NT and SARS focused on merit, appointments depoliticised. Process was highly formal. Yet under Zuma government was informalised, bypassing candidate processes.
A professional service means fixing up the politics. What are the limits of politicians? Politicians are not Gds, they cannot do anything. We should be harsh with accounting officers who allowed their ministers to do what they wanted.
'I don't believe that arms deals was fundamentally corrupt', that is, the primary contracts. Momo says he doesn't understand why Mbeki closed down parliamentary hearings.
When NT designed PFMA it didn't expect that Accounting Officers and the DG and Minister could be corrupt. It was naive
The most monumental failures were in SOEs, yet external auditors gave them unqualified audits. Auditor General has made Accounting Officers risk averse. There are many do nothing accounting officers.
How can we regulate our politics, Momo asks? We need a law saying that if any minister touches a procurement process they will be failed. Also need to strengthen criminal justice system.
SOEs were captured by manipulating boards and external auditors. There need to be independent directors, not appointed by Minister.
The existence of independent directors has helped to protext the Reserve Bank from capture, says Momo.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
