31 May 2007
The Department would like to clarify matters surrounding the court
application to prevent the Beeld newspaper from printing a leaked management
report from the Auditor-General on information systems audit of the network
security. The department respects the decision taken by the court and will
study the judgement, which may necessitate further comment by the department on
this matter. The department confirms that its intention to apply for an
interdict against the Beeld newspaper was not for the purposes of "gagging"
that newspaper. The department confirms its decision to apply to court for an
interdict against the Beeld newspaper was the correct one. We say this for the
following reasons:
The department was informed by the Beeld that they had a part of a
management report relating to the network audit on the eNaTIS system.
Accordingly the Department had an obligation to prevent the disclosure of
sensitive information contained in that report that could lead to security
breaches on the system. The Department sincerely and reasonably believed that
parts of the management report in the possession of the Beeld may have
contained sections publication of which may compromise the integrity of the
system. An audit by the Auditor-General is conducted along the following
procedure:
1. A planning memorandum is drawn by the auditors in which the scope of the
audit is defined and which the procedures are spelt out.
2. Thereafter, the auditors perform the audit and prepare a set of findings
which is then discussed with the department's representatives, in order to
verify the facts and findings, correct factual inaccuracies and obtain their on
the findings and recommendations. This process takes the form of a draft
report, which is known as a management report. The purpose of such a management
report is to disclose the findings and conclusions arising from a follow-up
information system audit and to serve as a basis for comments and corrective
steps. This report is dealt with on senior management level.
3. Once management has given its inputs, the final report is prepared by the
Auditor-General and is then presented to Parliament in terms of the Public
Audit Act. At this stage the findings cannot be further disputed.
Accordingly, the Department still re-iterates its position that the content
of management reports do not belong in the public domain until conclusion of
the audit process that results in the tabling of the audit report in
Parliament. The Department still considers itself bound by the relationship of
confidentiality it has with the Office of the Auditor-General in relation to
the audit process as defined above. The Department is encouraged by the fact
that court did pronounce that the content of the management report is
confidential. The department expresses its concern that an institution like the
South African National Editor's Forum (Sanef) had openly criticised the
Department for its decision to apply to court for an interdict, without
attempting to obtain any comments from the Department relating to its court
application.
The eNaTIS system was not in production when the audit was conducted in July
2006, but the system was under development. In actual fact, the eNaTIS system
was only commissioned in April 2007. During the audit process not a single
component of the eNaTIS system was in production. The audit therefore focused
on the development environment that was substantially different from the
production environment. The Department is confident that all the matters
relating to the eNaTIS system security raised in the Auditor-General's
management report (Information systems audit of the network security) has been
dealt with through the re-development process and migration from the NaTIS to
the eNaTIS. The eNaTIS system since its operation has not been audited. eNaTIS
did experience problems in the migration process in the vehicle registration
component. However, after significant interventions, the system is operating
optimally in a stable state, performing in excess of 500 000 transactions per
day. The Department wants to state that investigations are underway relating to
all matters that have arisen regarding the eNaTIS.
For more information, contact:
Collen Msibi
Cell: 082 414 5279
Issued by: Department of Transport
1 June 2007
Source: SAPA
