JOHANNESBURG – Six forensic firms will need at least five years to unravel the depths of financial mismanagement, neglect, corruption and “rottenness”- as employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi puts it at the heart of the Compensation Fund.
Nxesi said in a written Par- liamentary answer this week that a panel of six forensic in- vestigation firms have been appointed and contract nego- tiations had been concluded for a probe into the fund.
The investigation was or- dered by the Standing Com- mittee of Public Accounts (Scopa) in May.
“Firms will be commencing with the work from January 2022, though the initial plan-
ning is being conducted in December 2021,” Nxesi said in the reply.
The government-run fund is financed by employers and aims to pay compensation to sick and injured workers, or the families of employees who have died on the job.
The fund however has faced large-scale criticism, including about lengthy delays in paying out claims, poor leadership and a decade-long stretch of poor audit outcomes, includ- ing findings of irregular, fruit- less and wasteful expenditure, which Scopa says highlights a “total collapse of internal con- trols.”
Nxesi told Scopa in May that the fund is “rotten to the core.”
Department spokesperson Musa Zondi said the six firms that will conduct the investiga- tion are SNG Grant Thornton/ TSF Africa Forensics, Abucus, Nexus Forensic Services, Stone Turn Group South Africa, BDO/Hidden Links and Bow- man Gilfillan.
The forensic investigations will focus on several areas:
Medical claims transactions Pensions, temporary dis- ability, permanent disability, constant attendance allowance and funeral expenses transactions
Employer services (including employer registration and accounts receivables) Investments Cyber security Conflict of interest among Compensation Fund employees Accounts payable and supply chain management – FIN24.
