Economic Opportunities
(a) Why has the 2016/17 Annual Report of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture not been referred to the Standing Committee on Agriculture at the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and (b) when will this Annual Report be referred to the Standing Committee pending the 2017/18 budget allocation?
In terms of section 65 [1] [a] of the Public Finance Management Act [PFMA] [Act 1 of 1999, as amended], the executive authority responsible for a department, must table in the Provincial Legislature, the annual report and financial statements referred to in section 40 [1][d] and the audit report on those statements within one month after the accounting officer for the department received the audit report.
If, in terms of section 65 [2] of the PFMA [Act 1 of 1999], as amended), the executive authority fails to table, in accordance with subsection [1][a] above, the annual report and financial statements, and the audit report on those statements, in the relevant legislature within six months after the end of that financial year to which those statements relate –
[a] the executive authority must table a written explanation in the legislature setting out the reasons why they were not tabled; and
[b] the Auditor-General may issue a special report on the delay.
I have fulfilled my obligation to the legislature on 28 September 2017 in a letter to the Speaker as expected from me in (a) above. Similarly has the Auditor-General (AG) issued a special report on the delay as per (b) above referring to the difference of opinion between the department’s management team and the audit team as the reason for the delay. This report was submitted on 19 September 2017.
As described in the previous paragraph, such a report to be submitted to the legislature, consists of: The annual report and financial statements, and the audit report on those statements. The first two are the responsibility of the department and the last (audit report) that of the AG. The latter has not yet been issued by the AG.
A technical finding of the AG regarding transfer payments that the AG deemed to be goods and services was disputed by the department and led to the AG not issuing their report as per the prescribed timeframes.
[b] This dispute has not yet been resolved as the AG still not seem to be ready to issue their report. As the department is dependent on this report to submit a complete annual report to the Standing Committee, the department is unable to provide a date in this regard.
