BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – If you are counted among those that embezzle public funds, you might be in more trouble, as the Office of the Auditor General (AG) has recruited more auditors.
The new public auditors are set to expose more people who will be found to have misused public funds. The new examiners were today (Friday, November 15, 2024) convened by Auditor General (AG) Timothy Matsebula at Hilton Garden Inn, Mbabane. The purpose of the meeting was for the auditors, who were 25 in number, to be welcomed, as they were about to start out in their new roles of ensuring the proper use of public funds.
During the event, the new investigators looked excited and energetic. They stood up for almost every speaker that took to the podium, clapping hands for all of them after making their remarks. Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg was the guest speaker at the event. Other important speakers at the event included Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Simanga Mamba, House of Assembly Deputy Speaker Madala Mhlanga. The event was also graced by auditors from South Africa. Worth noting is that apart from being Deputy Speaker, Mhlanga is also Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament.
The PAC works on the findings of the AG, which are compiled in a report, which is tabled in Parliament. These reports are compiled by the auditors, who go around, auditing all government Ministries and Departments in a year. The 25 new auditors will be joining the rest of the public auditors in doing this job. Minister Rijkenberg congratulated the new auditors, warning them that they had a tough task ahead of them.
Rijkenberg said the auditors were tasked with jobs that kept Government officials and workers in check. They did this within a homogeneous society, where almost everyone was related, according to Rijkenberg. The minister further mentioned that it was in the nature of a human being to be loved and the auditors could find themselves wanting to please everyone during their course of work, so that they get loved. However, the nature of their job did not allow for them to do that.
Minister Rijkenberg said true love was the one that had respect in it. He told the scrutinisers that love that did not have respect for them was not true love, but it was just something else. CSC Chairman Mamba congratulated the auditors and informed them that they looked wonderful and looked ready to work. He informed that that what would be important in their line of duty would be attitude towards their work.
Mamba told them that they could be qualified all they wanted, but if they had a bad attitude, they would not be successful in their work. He said qualifications were achievements that qualified them for consideration, but what they took to their job was their attitude. He hoped that the new auditors had the right attitude. He also believed that the CSC had done the right job in recruiting these auditors to give optimal service to the nation in the public sector.
The auditors were further told that in many countries, there was corruption and public funds were unaccounted for in many ways. The different speakers wondered why such things happened when there were auditors. They wondered why the allegedly corrupt people were given clean audits by the auditors. They hoped that with the new auditors, such things were not going happen.
