Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

been lost or stolen on peace support missions”: 47 680 x 5.56mm rifle rounds, 1 800 x 7.62mm rifle rounds 97 x 60mm mortar bombs, 46 x 5.56 mm R4 rifles, three light machine guns, two 9mm pistols, two grenades and four R4 magazines.

Lekota stressed that the SANDF staff were instructed to safeguard arms and ammunition and rectify any “deficiencies” that they noticed in any such security arrangements.

But, according to Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, there was “no evidence” that cases of losses or damages to army property were followed up “on a regular basis”.

“In certain instances, cases are not reported or actions taken to recover losses from members,” he said.

To make matters worse, Fakie said, “various files pertaining to losses” were not submitted to the Auditor-General and loss and damage registers were “not properly maintained”.

“Critical information was omitted and was not regularly checked by management to ensure accuracy and completeness,” he said.

This year, for the first time, the department’s financial statements did not disclose just how much the loss of its property was costing taxpayers.

In its 2004/2005 report, the department’s financial statements totalled the cost of the loss of defence property at more than R48.7m.

This year’s financial statements also failed to provide any financial value for the SANDF’s weapon and ammunitions inventory, effectively indicating that the Department of Defence has no idea of how many weapons are currently in its possession.

Disturbingly, the report noted that the department's “unauthorised expenditure awaiting authorisation” amounted to over R495m.

Fakie, who hit the defence department with a qualified audit for the fifth year in a row, slammed the SANDF for the following:

l “Inadequate” control over the “general administration of demands”.

l “Deficient” controls over the issue and receipt of vouchers.

l “Internal controls over the security and general administration of vehicles, weapons and ammunition were found to be deficient”.