Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts was left besides itself when the SA National Roads Agency acknowledged that it paid outsourced internal auditors between R15m–R20m on average per year to assist with its internal audit work. Sanral was accompanied by Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters when it briefed the committee on Tuesday. It was the agency’s second attempt at giving the standing committee an update on interventions into its irregular expenditure. The Auditor General also pointed out in 2013 that R2.4bn worth of routine road maintenance was not done in compliance with the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act.The agency admits these contracts are continuing but said the amounts lost spent have reduced to R1.5bn in 2015 and R1.1bn in 2016. The agency said all contracts that did not comply with the act would have all expired by 2017.E-toll system is working in Gauteng‚ says Minister Dipuo PetersTransport Minister Dipuo Peters told Parliament that the South African National Roads Agency had just over 1.4-million registered e-tag account holders‚ though that is dwarfed by the more than 2.9-million accounts that are in arrears. However‚ Sanral expressed during the committee that the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act was not appropriate for procurement as it allowed major contractors to exploit SMEs which deliver services to Sanral.The agency instead used a method researched by the University of Pretoria where an optimum price is determined “to ensure that value for money is achieved at the same time as the sustainability of SMME businesses”.However the Auditor General found the alternative method not to be in compliance to the PPPFA and the standing committee did not accept the explanation as a justification for flouting legislation.Scopa chairman Themba Godi told Sanral that it was not enough to reduce the value of money spent outside of the provisions of the PPPFA over multiple years‚ especially given that the law existed longer than the contracts in question.“Some of the contracts lasted three years with some having a two year extension. The extensions were in place through a system adopted in 2002 until the Auditor General made a finding on the agency in 2013‚” said Godi.Sanral CFO Inge Mulder said: “The contracts were not cancelled because the transactions were not declared illegal. We have been allowed to continue with the contracts until they run out and they are due to expire next year".Asked by Scopa member for the IFP Mkhuleko Hlengwa whether Sanral had internally audited its financial statements‚ Mulder acknowledged that the agency got assistance from outsourced internal auditors but that these auditors only saw financial statements through an audit and risk committee.“In terms of financial statements the external auditors are not directly involved in the production of financial statement. We have a database which we use to get the audits done. We pay those less than R500‚000‚” said Mulder.Minister Peters said Sanral had tried to get National Treasury to respond to its requests to revisit the PPFA guidelines but got no response to their request to remain on the model which they have been using.- TMG Digital/BusinessLive..