The troubled public works department has racked up R3.65 billion in irregular spending since 2009, Public Works Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin revealed.
"What we are reporting is R3.6bn [that] appeared to be irregular expenditure, problematic expenditures, out of 40 000 transactions that were identified over the period from 2009 to March 2013," Cronin said after briefing Parliament's public accounts watchdog committee, Scopa.
"So, an enormous set of problems which we are not proud of obviously," he said.
Cronin said the department arrived at the sum, which he termed "immense", after spending months trawling through 930,000 transactions.
He said a large share of the sum resulted from irregular lease contracts -- including the department's notorious contracts with empowerment mogul Roux Shabangu -- but also noted smaller examples, such as renting wine glasses for the presidential guest house at R200 each.
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