dinner of the Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC), The Ranch
Hotel, Polokwane
8 October 2007
Programme director,
(Acting) Chairperson of APAC Mr Phumulo Masualle,
Executive Mayor of Capricorn District,
Speaker of Limpopo Legislature and other Speakers,
Deputy Speakers of Legislature,
Chairperson of Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in the National
Assembly,
Chairperson of Public Accounts committees in Limpopo and in other
provinces,
Members of APAC,
Members of Parliament and Members of Parliamentary Legislature,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
Theme: "Financial accountability towards the elimination of poverty and
underdevelopment"
It is always a great pleasure for us to be afforded an opportunity to
participate in platforms such as these, where insights and thoughts are shared
about issues of ethical governance and public accountability. In this regard,
one wishes to particularly thank APAC for being one of the foremost
organisations which are known for keeping discussions boiling, on the
importance of integrity and ethical governance in our country and beyond. This
is a patriotic duty, which is always important for purposes of keeping those of
us who are in the leadership positions of government to be on our toes.
As you all probably know, government regards public accounts committees as
one of the most strategic pillars of our lawmaking function. Public accounts
committees play a very important role in protecting our public coffers from
misuse and abuse. To date, SCOPA is one of the most feared committees of
legislatures, and its mere mentioning, sends tremors running down the spines of
politicians and public servants in some quarters. Public accounts committees
keep our democracy alive and without them, the oversight role of legislatures
becomes weak.
Through the vigilance of members of this committee, government has recovered
millions of monies that would otherwise have been lost from the public coffers.
What some may not know is that, fraud or corruption that is normally alleged to
have taken place in government is usually uncovered by these committees and not
always by the media as it is often assumed. This is consistent with other
measures and structures which our government has put in place to monitor
itself. Such include the Office of the Auditor General, the Public Protector
and other Chapter nine institutions.
Programme director,
However, no amount of combativeness on the part of SCOPA committees can be
successful if we do not address the moral fibre and the value system of the
society we live in. If greed and conspicuous consumption are the main tenets
which underlie the basis of our value system, then we can be rest assured of
the continued existence of corruption and impropriety in our society.
Our constitution outlines the basis of the society we all should aspire to
build. It espouses the values of compassion, caring, solidarity, accountability
and human dignity. Chapter 10 of our constitution specifically enjoins us to
observe the following principles which are imperative in the maintenance of
good governance and a morally just society. Such include:
* the promotion and maintenance of high standard of professional ethics
* the promotion of efficient, economic and effective use of resources
* public administration must be accountable
* transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible
and accurate information.
If all of us can internalise the implementation of these principles, there
could be no doubt that our public administration system can perform much better
than it is already doing. There is no doubt that corruption is a menace in our
society. It robs poor people, the resources which are otherwise meant to make
their lives better. For far too long, our people have been victims of graft
practices which border on poor ethics and impropriety. Common amongst these
include conflict of interest and the revolving door syndrome.
Programme director,
Obviously we cannot fight fraud and corruption without the requisite skills
and human resource. For some reason, provinces like Limpopo which are largely
rural, find it hard to attract and to keep the number of internal auditors and
financial managers it needs. Compounding this challenge is the phenomenon of
high-staff-turn over, of mainly government auditors and senior financial
managers. You will most probably agree that, adverse audit opinion and what is
normally regarded as capacity constrains in government is usually attributed to
the absence of these skills in the main.
The shortage of people who are skilled in these areas poses a threat, not
only to service delivery but also to the integrity of governmentâs accounting
and reporting mechanisms. I'm sure you will all agree that, all of the risks
which government is experiencing stem from the fact that we do not have the
capacity for early detection of risks and therefore are most vulnerable to the
threat of fraud, corruption and impropriety.
Our view is that partnerships involving government and organised professions
including the private sector, must be sought if we have to assist government to
build its capacity to manage risks and related weaknesses. Public accounts
committees must play a constructive role in helping government to reduce the
number of departments which consistently receive disclaimers and adverse audit
opinion. Together with other arms of the state, public accounts committees have
a responsibility to play a developmental role in seeing to it that departments
comply with set standards of public accountability and financial
management.
This is a responsibility we owe not only to ourselves but to the masses of
our people who expect this democracy to provide answers to their poverty. It is
our belief that your conference will go into great lengths in unravelling some
of these questions which have always pre-occupied the agenda of our government
for many years now.
We are confident that you have enjoyed the deliberations of the conference
since it started this morning; and would be most happy to return to our
province in the future. We take this opportunity to also wish APAC a happy 10
year anniversary. The people of our country salute you on the milestones you
have achieved since you where first launched in 1997. We wish your members and
leadership a happy birthday and look forward to you spending the next 10 years
in unity and strength. Let us help one another to build a culture of reporting
and public accountability in our government.
I thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government
8 October 2007
