A Hon House Chairperson and hon member, the office of the Auditor-General of South Africa is mandated by the Constitution of the Republic to audit the national and provincial departments and also municipalities for every financial year. Ten per cent of the Auditor- General's clients fall under the financially distressed municipalities and small auditees such as museums, trusts and boards.
Section 23 (6) of the Public Audit Act provides that if the National Treasury is of the view that the auditee is financially distressed then the excess audit fees must be paid from the National Treasury's Budget Vote in an instance where the audit fees exceed 1% of the current and capital expenditure of the auditee. It has been