Deputy Chairperson, the reply to question number one is that specific action has not been taken to replace the director-general or what we call the Secretary for Defence in the Department of Defence and members of the audit committee. Replacing the director-general or the Secretary for Defence and audit committee members may not resolve all the qualifications that the department faces between audit cycles. What would probably happen if we were to take the advice of the Auditor-General is that we might have to replace almost everybody every financial year.
Given the fact that the root causes of the qualifications relate to the constraints and challenges which require medium and long-term solutions, a structured approach to deal with these qualifications has been put in place. The accounting officer of the department, who is the Secretary for Defence, has committed himself to the project called Operation Clean Audit. He will hold all divisional chiefs and service chiefs to account on those areas where the department has received negative audit findings through the accountability management committee meetings of which he would be the chairperson. The answer to question number two is that no disciplinary action has been taken against any member of the Department of Defence regarding the qualifications contained in the 2004-05 audit report, as the three qualifications relate to ineffective internal control systems. The managers of the Department of Defence who are responsible for the internal control systems that had caused the three audit qualifications were called in by the accounting officer to account on this matter at the monthly AMC meetings. They were instructed to submit detailed action plans with target dates to effectively address the adverse findings.
These action plans and target dates are closely monitored by him and discussed at the AMC meetings by the audit committee on a quarterly basis. These are, however, complex issues that require systems enhancements, policy and procedural changes as well as structural changes. They will not be solved within one financial year but, rather, over a number of years. I thank you.