South Africa: Committee Raises Concern Over Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) Irregular Expenditure, Deficits and Performance Verification Weaknesses

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities raised concerns about irregular expenditure, consecutive deficits, increased spending on consultants and weaknesses in the verification of performance information at the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE). The committee raised these concerns when it received a briefing from the CGE on its 2025/26 Annual Report (AR).

In briefing the committee, the CGE said the Auditor General’s finding regarding irregular expenditure was a historical matter relating to a panel of attorneys that was incorrectly appointed.

Responding to the presentation by the CGE, the committee expressed concern that spending on consultants had doubled. Members asked the CGE to account for the increase, clarify how much of the expenditure resulted from vacancies in the research unit, and explain why research posts had not been filled.

On matters relating to consequence management, the committee called for stronger consequence management where officials are implicated in financial misconduct. Committee members argued that resignations should not automatically end accountability processes and that disciplinary proceedings should be concluded before an implicated official is released. The committee urged the CGE to explore lawful and practical ways to recover losses, even after an employee has left, in order to protect public funds.

The committee noted with concern that the CGE recorded a deficit that was almost double the previous year’s deficit and had now reported deficits for two consecutive years. Committee members questioned whether expenditure was being scrutinised sufficiently, particularly as the amount paid in bonuses was close to the value of the deficit.

On the use of consultants, the committee noted that consulting fees had doubled compared with the previous year. The committee said it had observed that several additional consulting fees had contributed to the increase.

The committee questioned whether the CGE was receiving sufficient value from its monthly IT expenditure of R75 000, which forms part of its consulting expenditure. Despite using external IT consultants, the committee noted that the organisation had not progressed adequately from manual processes to an IT- or cloud-based system.

The committee asked the CGE to review its IT plan and clarify whether the consulting company would support digital transformation or continue providing only ad hoc, day-to-day IT services.

The committee welcomed the CGE’s reported 98% performance achievement. However, it noted that the audit and risk committee had identified weaknesses in the verification of performance information. The committee questioned how it could fully rely on the reported figure while the verification systems remained insufficiently robust.

The committee commended the CGE’s work to advance equality for domestic workers, but asked when it would address inequality affecting women in all forms of marriage, including traditional, Islamic and civil marriages, as well as inequality in the home and in religious institutions.

The issue of underfunding of the CGE came under the spotlight. The committee expressed concern and voiced its apprehension that the CGE is grossly underfunded and unable to meet the expectations and mandate placed on it.

The committee requested a business plan setting out the resources required and indicated its willingness to support appropriate funding for an agreed plan.

The committee said it wanted to raise caution around the use of performance bonuses for bridging the gap of insufficient salaries and hoped that there would be a plan for how this is managed going forward.

In her closing remarks, Committee Chairperson Ms Liezl van der Merwe questioned the CGE’s outsourcing of newsletters, report writing and research, noting that commissioners had previously included experienced academics capable of contributing to this work.

She expressed concern that the annual report did not explain how commissioners had contributed to the CGE’s mandate and annual targets. Ms van der Merwe said commissioners, as servants of the public, should be accountable for their contribution.

Ms van der Merwe further questioned whether senior-management bonuses were justified when the CGE lacked sufficient funds to pay performance bonuses more broadly.

On consequence management, she acknowledged the legal and financial difficulties of recovering losses from former employees, including the three-year prescription period and potentially high legal costs. However, she warned that failing to hold wrongdoers accountable would undermine the CGE and public confidence.

She said the committee wanted to prevent a culture of impunity and suggested considering legislative reform, including a review of the Prescription Act, to support effective consequence management.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.