Limpopo airport can’t account for losses

Limpopo's Standing Committee on Public Accounts expresses disappointment and concern over the state of affairs at the province's airport company.

Polokwane - Limpopo's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has expressed disappointment and concern over the state of affairs at the province's airport company.

The committee said on Wednesday that it believed officials at the company that runs Polokwane International Airports failed to account for its loss and expenditure as outlined in the 2013/14 Auditor General audit outcome.

The committee lambasted Gateway Airports Authority Limited's (Gaal) chief executive officer Thulani Zulu for failing to safeguard taxpayers' money and to collect revenue during the financial year under review.

According to the Auditor General Report for the 2013/24 financial year, the airport reported a revenue loss of R6 million in rental funds. “It is a very scary issue, this is the worst we have ever witnessed, there is no capacity, the assets are not tied up to financial statements,” said Scopa provincial chairwoman Snowy Kennedy.

Kennedy told Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana and Zulu and accompanying officials that the state-funded entity was in a mess.

Zulu failed to justify how the taxpayer-funded airport company failed to collect revenue and to ensure that its assets were accounted for.

At one stage in proceedings Zulu tried to extricate himself by presenting a letter which said that the mess at Gaal had occurred during his suspension, but this was dismissed by the committee.

According to the Auditor General report, Gaal failed to account for its movable assets, valued at R1 million, but which could not be accounted for because the company could not identify its own assets. In another transaction, the committee expressed concern over the entity's failure to explain why it leased its property at fair value.

The Auditor General described this move as inappropriate. At least R5 million in revenue was due to Gaal, but companies renting business offices space had defaulted and dishonoured payment obligations.

Zulu told the committee that no action had been taken against officials involved, adding that there were no officials with the skills to deal with the complexities of IAS 40 requirements.

When asked why the entity had failed to manage its operating expenditure and as a result suffered wasteful expenditure, Zulu responded by referring the committee to his letter. However, the committee slammed Zulu, saying he could not run away from the situation.

“All these things we are talking about, the CEO (Zulu) was there, that means he is now accountable for everything that happened in that particular year,” said committee member Elias Nong. Nong added that the “CEO must be open and accountable.”

Nong and other members contended that Zulu had “failed to show leadership” and allowed the entity's financial status to deteriorate, whilst not collecting any revenue.

Zulu was suspended between February 2012 to April 2013 for allegedly luring the now liquidated Velvet Sky airline and offering them preferential treatment over South African Airlink. Kennedy said Zulu was supposed to set the tone during his time in office, but there was no tone at all as officials were doing what they wanted and completely disregarded Public Finance Management guidelines.

“There is no capacity at Gaal. I am very disappointed. We are not saying things must run smoothly or must be perfect but we cannot condone expenditure like this,” Kennedy said.

The committee said it would write its recommendations to the provincial legislature and added that its preliminary findings were that that the company lacked the capacity to run its own affairs.

AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY