Commission for Gender Equality: Interrogation of Annual Report & Financial Statements 2008/09

Meeting report

Commission for Gender Equality Annual Report and Financial Statements

The Chairperson was perturbed that the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) had submitted its Annual Report to Parliament only at the end of March 2010. According to regulations the Annual Report should have been submitted in October 2009. If a department or entity was unable to submit its report on time a written explanation had to be sent to Parliament. The Commission had failed to do so. The Chairperson noted instability of leadership within the Commission, which lacked a permanent Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). These positions were held only in an ‘acting’ capacity. He asked the Acting Chairperson how many commissioners the CGE had at the present and for how long had it had depended on an acting CEO, Chairperson and CFO. He also wanted to know the impact on the Commission.

Mr M Shozi, Acting Chairperson, CGE, replied that there were currently nine Commissioners but there were supposed to be 12. He had been Acting Chairperson since August 2009. Ms Keketso Maema had served as Acting CEO since 2009. Mr M Putu had been acting CFO since July 2009. Not having these official positions filled properly had had a negative effect on the institution.

Mr N Singh (IFP) felt that it was necessary for the institution to integrate key role players. He said that the main focus needed to be on staffing and performance bonus which had been paid out. He felt that these bonuses should not have been paid since the performance of the institution has been low. He wanted to know who was going to accept responsibility for the low performance of CGE.

The Chairperson told members that the former Chairperson and CEO from CGE had been invited to the meeting as well in order to answer questions regarding the previous Annual Report.

Mr A Ainslie (ANC) referred to Section 65 of the Constitution which said that an institution must table its Annual Report five months after the end of the financial year.  He wanted to know why the Commission’s report was not tabled on time and why did the CGE not give in a written explanation. He also wanted to know why the Committee did not have an Annual Report from the previous year 2007/08.

Mr Shozi pointed out that at the time of the 2007/08 Annual Report he was not acting Chairperson and that the Chairperson at that time, Ms Nomboniso Gasa, should answer those questions.

Ms Nomboniso Gasa, former Chairperson, CGE, felt that this was an ambush. She went on to explain that the Commission was late in tabling its report for various reasons. The main reason was because of dissatisfaction with its contents and the Commission’s lack of capacity. Eventually the report was submitted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and an understanding was reached between the CGE and that Department that the report would be tabled to parliament upon the completion of consultation between that Department and the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development.

Mr Ainslie felt that Ms Gasa was “passing the buck” and trying to shift responsibility to others when she should have been taking responsibility for the delay of the report. He read Chapter 9 Section 181(5) of the Constitution to Ms Gasa and said that she needed to acknowledge that she had made a mistake.

The Chairperson reiterated what Mr Ainslie had said and added that the Commission should not have relied on the Department. He said that Ms Gasa had failed the Commission in her capacity as Chairperson.

Ms Gasa defended herself and said that she was not trying to shift the blame but just wanted to explain what had happened. There needed to be a clear definition between what it said in the Constitution and other regulations that affect the CGE.

Mr Shozi explained why the Annual Report 2008/09 was not ready on time. He said the Commission did not have the capacity at the time to have the report ready, there were capacity problems within the financial department of CGE. He said that the Commission had asked for an extension, but not in writing. The report was finalised in January 2010 but there were still problems with it.

The Chairperson asked again why there had not been a written explanation for the delay submitted to Parliament.

Mr Shozi admitted that this had been an oversight of the Commission and said that it would not happen again.

The Chairperson did not feel that this was a good enough excuse and could not understand why protocol had not been followed.

Mr P Pretorious (DA) pointed out that Commission was supposed to report to the President’s Office once a year, but obviously this had not been done. He wanted to know how this had been done in the past. He felt that the buck stopped with the President’s Office and did not think that Parliament needed to take political responsibility for the Commission.

Mr M Steele (DA) said that there had already been to admissions by the CGE that there was a lack of capacity which inhibited the Commission from submitting its Annual Report. He wanted to know if the Committee should not be declaring salaries of all officials involved as wasteful expenditure when there had been poor capacity and performance. Section 38 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) stated that disciplinary action must be taken when there was fruitless or wasteful expenditure. Throughout the Auditor General’s report it was evident that no action had been taken. Mr Steele wanted the acting CEO to explain why the Act had not been implemented.

Mr Shozi told the Committee that there was a forensic audit on the go at present that results from that report would be available next week.

Ms Keketso Maema, Acting CEO, CGE, replied that the Commission had initiated legal action against parties who were responsible for any fraudulent behaviour. She was hoping that once recommendations came through from the forensic audit the Commission would be able to move with criminal proceedings.

Mr Kimi Makweto, Deputy Auditor General (AG), confirmed that there was a forensic audit going on and the recommendations would be ready in April.

The Chairperson said he was happy to hear that there was a forensic audit going on but he pointed out that the Act had stated that processes had to be put in place to prevent fraudulent processes from happening and he wanted to know why the Commission did not have these processes in place.

Mr M Mangena (AZAPO) wanted to know what the Commission meant when it said it did not have the capacity. A skilled person would know how to do their job, when people are hired the Commission needed to make sure that the person knew what they were doing.

The Chairperson asked the former CEO what had happened.

Ms Chana Majake, former CEO, CGE, said that it saddened her to see the situation at the Commission at the moment without a proper structure. She had seen the Annual Report for the first time two days ago. She pointed out that she was not part of this particular audit from last year as she had already left the CGE by that time. What was disturbing about the report was that from pages 51-54 it was stated under each section that the AG was “not provided with sufficient evidence”. This showed that the audit process could not be done properly. Once again she reiterated that she was not part of the Audit as she had left in April 2008. When she was CEO the Commission had managed to submit financial statements and reports on time and that the Commission was tabling reports through the President’s Office at the time but that copies were sent to Parliament and the Department of Justice.

Ms B Thompson (ANC), Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities wanted to know what was meant by ‘poor quality of the report’ and whether the CGE had proper capacity at present. She also wanted to know if the Commission had managed to deliver on its mandate.

Mr M Mbili (ANC) wanted to know why the 2007/08 Annual Report had not been signed as he did not feel comfortable discussing issues on it if it had not been signed off by the former Chairperson as it would then be unlawful. He also wanted to know if the report he had in front of him was the same one as the report submitted to the Department of Justice.

Ms Majake admitted that the report was not signed because it had not been sent to the Chairperson at the time.

Ms Gasa assured Mr Mbili that the report he had was the same report that was submitted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and that it had been signed. She said that she took responsibility for the 2007/08 report and she said that she will make the signed report available to the Committee.

Mr Ainslie asked if the Commission could come back to his concern about disciplinary and criminal measures against those who had broken the law. He could not understand why the Commission needed to wait for the forensic audit report.

The Chairperson also wanted to know why there was no mention of an Audit Committee and an Internal Audit Unit.

Ms Majake replied that in 2007/08 the Commission did have an Audit Committee as well as an Internal Audit Unit.

Ms N Loyilane, CGE Commissioner, told the Committee that the Audit Committee had resigned last year and that it was going to take at least two months to set up a new committee. She said that not mentioning this is the report was an oversight.

The Chairperson said that the Commission could not have oversights such as these as it was a legal procedure. He also still wanted to know why there was irregular expenditure and who was responsible for this. He decided that the Committee should move on to the Annual Report for 2008/09. He wanted to know why there was no mention of an Audit Committee in this report as well.

Mr Singh wanted to return to the question of who was responsible. He wanted to know who was the head of administration between April and June 2008, after the former CEO had been suspended. He also wanted to know on what grounds the former CEO had been suspended.

Ms H Malgas (ANC), Member of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities said due to litigation issues she was not sure if the former Chairperson should be sitting in on the meeting.

Mr Singh pointed out to the Committee that there was the former CEO and then acting CEO who was in charge during the gap of between April and June and so he felt that the former CEO could not be blamed because she was not there during that time. However he did want to know who was then to blame.

The Chairperson asked the Commission who was the acting CEO at the time. He also repeated the question of why had the former CEO been suspended.

Mr Shozi replied by telling the Committee that when the former CEO was suspended two acting CEOs were appointed by the Commission between April and June. The Commission had not followed disciplinary procedures with the former CEO and so she had taken the CGE to court.

 The Chairperson wanted to then know how much money was used for these court proceedings and who was responsible for this. He also wanted to know who the two acting CEOs were at that time.

Ms J Hicks, CGE Commissioner replied to the Chairperson’s question. She told the Committee that it was Ms Loyilane and herself who were the two acting CEOs at the time. In January 2009 a third party person had come on board to take over the CEO responsibilities but had resigned in March 2009. The Commission then appealed to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and that was when Ms K Maema, the Parliamentary Officer was appointed. Once again the capacity and systems needed were not in place.

Ms A Muthambi (ANC) said that there seemed to be a dispute going on and they had still not gotten any answers regarding the Audit Committee.

Mr Mbili asked the Chairperson if he could ask for a caucus so that the Committee Members could discuss some things.

The Chairperson asked everyone who was not part of the Committee to leave the room.

After the break in proceedings the Chairperson told the CGE that Members had decided to stop the meeting and to reschedule it for another time. They were not happy with the way the Committee and CGE were engaging with each other as it did not seem like they were achieving anything. They also felt that certain key role players were not present at the meeting. The Committee wanted accountability and they were not getting it. The Chairperson said that they were also very worried about the state of the Commission and they were going to communicate with the Presidency and ask for firm direction in the Commission.

The Meeting was adjourned.