Mokonyane’s department of water and sanitation bankrupt. Report

A report by the City Press has exposed minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s department of water and sanitation’s nearly R4.3 billion worth of toxic debt.

Basically, the person responsible for making sure South Africa’s water infrastructure is up to scratch and our water resources are being managed properly, has completely screwed the pooch.

The report claims Mokonyane’s department is sitting on unpaid invoices of R2.8 billion for the last two financial years, and is running on a R2.6 billion overdraft; but, as so often happens when government department’s are caught messing up, Mokonyane’s office denies that it’s essentially bankrupt.

“The department is not in debt where we stand. We still have sufficient funding until the end of the financial year,” the department’s Sputnik Ratau told the newspaper, even as the public protector continues her investigation into Mokonyane’s R26 billion Lesotho Highlands Project.

Now, while you might be able to write off Mokonyane’s glaringly obvious failures to perform her most basic job as minister, what you can’t ignore is the near-criminal irregular expendature of an additional R2.5 billion by her department.