20 Feb 2019

Government Accounting and Budgeting System (GABS) is said to be an effective tool in provision of government services. 

Accountant General’s  northern region chief accountant, Mr Ogolotse Nthoiwa, said the computerised budgeting and accounting system only experienced challenges of power cuts and network interruptions. 

Presenting on the mandate of the Accountant General at the on-going Mahalapye Sub-district Council session on February 19, Mr Nthoiwa said the system would at times be interrupted due to maintenance works or modifications on the system. 

As such, Mr Nthoiwa said such challenges would not undermine the effectiveness of the system. 

“It is unfortunate as the prominent challenges of power cuts and poor network bringing the system down were not under the control of the Accountant General,” he said. 

Mr Nthoiwa further stated that employees at the office of the Accountant General were directed to revert to the manual the system within two hours when the computerised GABS system was down. 

He was responding to a question from Boseja/Flowertown ward councillor, Mr Tumelo Koolekanye, who was concerned with effectiveness of the GABS system. 

Cllr Koolekanye noted that the computerised system was a serious setback in service delivery since customers were not assisted when it was down. 

Mahalapye deputy district commissioner, Mr Bakuedi Masole, was equally concerned by the ineffectiveness of the system noting that it had never happened for officers at revenue to revert to the manual system within two hours when the computerised system was done. 

Mr Masole said what was happening on the ground was completely different from the content of the presentation. 

He, however, commended Mr Nthoiwa for the presentation saying it was an eye opener. 

He was of the view that government operations should not be at a standstill for days, because the system was down. 

He said it was unfortunate to note from the comments by councillors that there were cases where customers were not serviced due to system failure. 

He urged customers to always appeal to the management whenever receiving unsatisfactory service, adding that any employees who did not comply with the set procedure would be dealt with. Ends