Chairperson, the ACDP rises to support this Budget Vote. We would just like to highlight one or two aspects that could be helpful to other members who are not part of the Justice committee.
In particular, if one has regard to the R30 billion per year that is lost through procurement fraud, there are two institutions that report to the Justice committee that are very important. They are the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigating Unit.
If one were to increase the resources and capacity of those two units, they would have the civil ability to go to the courts and recover that R30 billion or part of it. Surely that is a win-win situation; that one should increase their capacity so that they can then go towards recovery in terms of helping our financial constraints. That is something that we feel very strongly about.
Secondly, we would also like to commend the department on the financial statements for the first time for the third-party funds. Now, that is a significant achievement because previously these were always done manually, and for the first time now we are starting to see annual financial statements prepared for that. So that is another achievement, because that is something that has been long outstanding, and the department has a clean audit. So, Chairperson, we will support this Budget Vote. I thank you.