Can Ramasodi turn things around?
The key takeaway from the audit outcomes and annual reports that were recently presented by the entities within the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department) to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is probably, and predictably, that the newly appointed director general, Mooketsa Ramasodi, has his work cut out for him. Apart from all the other problems that were brought to light by the Auditor-General (AG), the most glaring shortcoming within the agriculture department and its various entities remains the lack of accountability. The AG flagged a lack of consequence-management implementation in the department, saying that consequences were not imposed on officials who were responsible for irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which amounted to R138 million across all entities. As long as this is…