Auditor-General Exposes R67 Million Irregular Spending In Gayton McKenzie Department

The Auditor-General of South Africa has identified R67 million in irregular expenditure at the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture for the 2025/26 financial year, up from the amount recorded in the previous year.

The department reported R10.43 million in irregular expenditure for 2024/25. However, the Auditor-General’s audit found the actual amount for that year was R42 million. The latest findings therefore point to a further increase, while also exposing shortcomings in the department’s earlier reporting.

The Auditor-General said the R67 million figure could itself be understated because the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex and Robben Island had not been able to quantify their irregular expenditure. The audit also found slow progress in addressing historical irregular expenditure and weaknesses in monitoring corrective action plans.

The department’s reported irregular-expenditure balance declined from R861 million to R839 million over the administration term, but the Auditor-General warned that this balance was also likely understated. Only 16% of the 2023/24 balance and 5% of the 2024/25 balance had been addressed by the end of the year.

The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of measures introduced under Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie. In response to a parliamentary question, McKenzie said the department was strengthening supply-chain management compliance, internal assurance and financial controls. He also said an audit action plan identified corrective steps, responsible programmes and deadlines, with progress reported quarterly.

Despite those steps, the Auditor-General found that irregular expenditure rose in 2025/26. The audit also identified weaknesses in internal audit, audit committee effectiveness and governance across parts of the department’s portfolio. The report noted that the number of entities with clean audits had increased, but said progress on some previous recommendations remained limited.

The latest figures form part of a wider portfolio oversight challenge. Entities overseen by the department have struggled to resolve recurring audit findings, while investigations into past irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure remain incomplete. A 2025 parliamentary briefing on the portfolio described unresolved amounts exceeding R800 million, underscoring that the problem extends beyond the department itself.

The audit findings do not, by themselves, establish that the minister personally caused the irregular expenditure. They do, however, show that the department’s financial controls and follow-through on earlier audit recommendations remain under scrutiny.

The central question is whether the corrective measures will produce measurable improvement. The Auditor-General’s assessment indicates that progress has so far been slow, and that previous commitments have not yet prevented a rise in identified irregular expenditure.

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