Committee Researchers on the Prioritisation of Annual Reports

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson congratulated the SA Springboks on winning the 2023 World Rugby Cup.

He said there would be presentations on the audit outcomes and the financial performance of national departments and public entities, as the process was currently unfolding in Parliament. These presentations aimed to provide insights from the Research Unit, identifying areas requiring improvement. This process would allow the Committee to see if there are matters requiring their attention.

Mr S Somyo (ANC) noted that the full Auditor-General report would only be tabled at the end of the month.

The Chairperson noted this was just an analysis of what was already before Parliament. The Committee’s processes and the AG’s matters can run concurrently. The Committee was also mindful that it would need to wrap things up before the term of this Parliament came to an end next year.

Mr Somyo said Members should keep it in mind that the blueprint for parliamentary processing was still awaited (the AG report) which was a consolidation of all auditory matters.

The Chairperson agreed that further processes would unfold once the AG briefed Parliament accordingly.

Committee Researchers on the Prioritisation of Annual Reports

Ms Rethabile Mokhatla and Ms Amanda Matutu, Committee Researchers, took Members through a detailed analysis of the audit outcomes and annual financial performance of national departments and entities. The analysis also covered the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) compliance and reporting framework, and the disclosure of unauthorised, irregular, and fruitless/wasteful expenditure. Audit outcomes and reporting entities were categorised into clusters, such as economic services and infrastructure development, justice and protection services, social services, financial and administration services, and central government administration.

Ms Mokhatla presented for Group 2, while Ms Matutu covered Group 1.

(See attached for the full analysis).

Discussion

The Chairperson said the analyses set the Committee in good stead ahead of its interaction with the AG at the end of the month.

Mr S Somyo (ANC) said that the analysis/research results showed a clear improvement in the performance of national departments and entities, here and there. A comment about materiality had been made and causal factors. This would be the case now regarding prioritisation, with a specific focus on key areas intended to promote improvement and accountability. It was important to appreciate the outcomes and note that it had indeed been an extensive analytical exercise of these audit outcomes.

He was worried about late submissions and letters for extensions. Over the years, those requesting extensions often faced challenges and landed up in the “doldrums”. Parliamentary committees, including Scopa, should monitor this. Examples were the Post Office, SABC, SAA etc. with “non-observation of accountability”.

Ms Mokhatla said the team could look into identified recommendations for prioritisation, repeat offenders, those who had received disclaimers with significant areas of disclaimer and those who had received qualifications with significant areas of qualification. Within each group, there were already recommendations for priority entities, based on some of the aspects raised by Mr Somyo.

Chairperson's closing remarks

The Chairperson said the matters would be taken forward. The analysis would allow Members to ask better informed questions.

The Committee Secretary would email the Members the unauthorised expenditure resolution for their input today. They had requested suggestions on how to handle each of the transactions that were part of the application submitted, which were currently pending.

He said the Committee was still awaiting responses from National Treasury and the Parliamentary Budget Office on matters raised.

He advised Members of the Committee's changes to meetings scheduled for November.

The meeting was adjourned.