Parliament’s Fourth Terms kicks off with Departments, entities failing to table annual reports

2 October 2017

As Parliament’s Fourth Term commences today, the DA has taken note of the number of national government departments and their entities which have failed to table their annual reports for the 2017-2018 financial year by the 29 September deadline.

It speaks to the ANC government’s poor approach to governance that no fewer than four national departments failed to table their annual reports on time, with the departments of Traditional Affairs and State Security failing to provide reasons why.

The DA will write to the Leader of Government Business, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, to ask for reasons why departments and entities have failed to table their annual reports, as required by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), and for new, concrete deadlines to be set.

Unsurprisingly, the poor state of governance extends to our public entities with the list of those who have failed to table their annual reports on time including the ‘usual suspects’. They include:

-· Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks);

-· Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA);

-· South African Airways (SAA);

-· South African Express Airways;

-· South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL); and

-· South African Revenue Service (SARS)

South Africans are not only in the dark about how their tax money is being spent but Parliament is also being deprived of a chance to timeously exercise its oversight function and hold government and its entities to account.

Deputy President Ramaphosa must ensure that irregular financial reporting by government entities is addressed as a matter of urgency if he has any respect for the oversight function performed by Parliament.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 2 October 2017