Madam Speaker, the recent damning audit findings by the Auditor-General in respect of the finances of the Department of Home Affairs are indeed quite serious and a cause for concern and indictment of the Minister and the DG as the chief financial officer. Four successive qualified audit reports, and a disclaimer to boot, for 2004-05 is no mean feat. Findings by the Auditor-General show massive financial mismanagement including no supporting documentation for an expenditure of R572,4 million.
This is simply outrageous. Surely management letters from the Auditor- General would have alerted someone in the department that things were going from bad to worse. Why didn't the internal audit team pick this up?
The DG of Home Affairs is more abroad than here at home, doing the job he is paid to do. In fact, it is scandalous, to say the least, that Home Affairs has overtaken the Department of Foreign Affairs in foreign travelling by almost R30 million.
Minister, your officials are taking the taxpayers for a ride and this must stop immediately. The DA acknowledges that you have, amongst other things, as the political head, accepted responsibility for the dire state of affairs, used the PFMA clauses to call for an intervention and investigation by National Treasury, put in place plans to decentralise management and decision-making structures and come out strongly against incompetent officials.
Minister, the lack of risk control and proper financial systems has indeed made the department vulnerable to theft and fraud. It is unfortunate that your DG does not report to you. It is actually incomprehensible that this kind of working relationship exists and it is the consensus that this is one of the major undoings. Heads must roll, Minister, and the first should be that of your DG. We hope that you will indeed follow through on the weaknesses in the department, but until you do, the DA has no option but to vote against the budget.