GSSC rapped on the knuckles

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 13 Dec 2007

The Auditor-General (AG) has expressed concern over the yet-to-be explained two-week systems failure at the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) earlier this year, which was seemingly caused by a computer virus.

The agency`s annual report has seen the AG highlighting three "matters of emphasis", one of them relating to a 10-working-day crash in August that added to an already substantial licence booking backlog at the centre.

At the time of the crash, the total systems failure was put down to a virus entering the system.

The GSSC was handling an average of 11 000 bookings a day at the time of the crash, putting the potential additional backlog created at about 110 000 over the course of the 10 working days.

In addition, salary payments to about 120 000 government employees were also affected, as these are all handled by the GSSC.

While the AG did not qualify his audit of the GSSC based on the "matters of emphasis", it was noted that the forensic report into the systems failure "to determine the source of the computer virus and the impact on the (GSSC) data" is still pending.

The GSSC stated in its financial report for 2006/7 that the two-week system downtime was necessitated by the fact that 18 000 PCs had to be cleaned up and the network had to be rebuilt in its entirety.

It said the processing of payments to service providers, as well as of salaries, was, however, done through the State Information Technology Agency.

In September, Gauteng premier Mbazima Shilowa ordered the GSSC to produce a turnaround strategy in "a few months`" time. Following a provincial government lekgotla, Shilowa said steps taken to address the licence backlog specifically "are clearly not having the desired impact and serious challenges exist with regards to customer satisfaction levels".

Unauthorised expenditure

Other matters of emphasis raised by the AG relate to unauthorised expenditure to the tune of R9.7 million, as well as an asset audit performed by the GSSC while an official asset register is still pending.

The AG noted six more matters in its report, although these were not emphasised.

This included that unauthorised expenditure was incurred "due to the failure to implement adequate working capital management".

Also, the GSSC invited bids for procurement worth more than R500 000, contrary to Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) requirements.

Interest at the rate of 17% per year, amounting to R141 072, was also incurred on unpaid Telkom accounts and was not reported as leases in the financial results.