Publications
Partners
The Congress of the People (Cope) has blamed its auditors for a glitch which led to Parliament withholding over R1 million from the flailing party.
City Press reported last Sunday that Parliament deducted funds from a number of political parties represented in the legislature, after they used their allowances for unauthorised expenses. Of the R1.14m that was not transferred to parties, a whopping R1.09m was Cope’s share.
According to a parliamentary document dated October 23, Cope failed to account for R34 925 spent on legal fees.
The document also stated that Cope had neither responded to a query about the expenditure nor submitted outstanding documents, including a signed declaration on effective and transparent internal controls as per the policy on political parties’ allowances. The institution also wanted a summary of all party support staff employed as of April 1, a list of constituency offices and the names of MPs allocated to each office.
A day after City Press published the story, Cope’s auditors, C2M chartered accountants, wrote to Parliament taking blame for misallocating the legal expenses during auditing and withdrawing the annual financial statements of the party in respect of the financial year ended March 31.
“In lieu of the findings by Parliament after reviewing the financial statements, it has come to our attention that the annual financial statements of the Congress of the People – parliamentary account requires revision. These financial statements included R34 925 relating to legal expenses due to a misallocation,” reads the letter.
Cope chief whip Deidre Carter also informed City Press that Parliament had since released the funds withheld from the party.
Parliament pays three types of allowances to parties represented in the institution: a party leadership allowance which they can use to appoint support staff in Parliament; and a party administrative allowance to enable them to effectively perform their functions in the legislature. This covers computer/software maintenance, communications (telephone) and office supplies and stationery. The third category is the constituency allowance.
