Chairperson, the ANC would like to acknowledge and show appreciation for the work done by the Office of the Auditor-General of South Africa, as evidenced by their 2010-11 financial audit year.
Like other Chapter 9 institutions, the Auditor-General's role is very much crucial in strengthening our democracy and ensuring good governance.
It is on the basis of reports such as this that Parliament is able to exercise effective oversight over the executive. We would like to congratulate those departments and entities that obtained clean audits, in particular the Department of Home Affairs, which managed to get an unqualified audit opinion for the first time since its inception. [Applause.]
We take the view that clean financial audit reports are meaningful if they translate into service delivery that has a positive impact on the lives of our people. Simultaneously, we also encourage those who moved from adverse to qualified audit opinions to work hard towards the achievement of clean audit opinions and performance.
We urge Ministers, Premiers and MECs to take drastic measures in dealing with departments and entities that obtained adverse audit opinions. Our people deserve better services and we are becoming impatient with disclaimers, 17 years into democracy.
Both national and provincial departments must take heed of the corrective measures suggested by the Auditor-General to avoid a recurrence of irregular practices. I thank you. [Applause.]