More than R400-million in outstanding deb James Masango said it wouldt owed to the department of Public Works must be retrieved, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.

The party's public works spokesman submit parliamentary questions to Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge to establish what was being done to recoup the R419-million owed by other national departments and public entities.

The money had been outstanding for more than two years.

"The failure of national departments to adhere properly to budget plans, as well as poor coordination and weak oversight has been a defining trend in a number of the Auditor General's annual reports on these institutions' financial management," Masango said in a statement.

"And this problem is once again evident in the annual report of the national department of public works."

An audit finding, he said, revealed the lack of proper reconciliation and reviews, unauthorised manual journals and misallocations.