While acknowledging the concerns of the Auditor-General, we are also encouraged by the findings made by our former Auditor-General, who noted the emergence of a "pattern of positive outcomes" in government spending and accounting. He also advised that we needed to move quickly to sustain these improvements.
According to Mr Nombembe, not all negative findings were related to corrupt activities, as some members of the opposition want us to believe. Instead, he identified "the high vacancy rate and staff acting in senior management positions, including that of accounting officers" as part of the problem.
Since the enactment of the Public Finance Management Act, there has been a host of measures to try and improve financial management in the Public Service, led by National Treasury. Departments with negative audit findings are required to prepare audit improvement plans that set out clear actions to be taken to fix the problems identified by the Auditor-General.
Financial management experts are made available to departments, agencies and municipalities that need support in strengthening financial management systems and controls. Departments are also expected to employ the right personnel and to train those who need skilling in financial management. In addition, National Treasury has published the Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations that will come into effect from 1 July 2014, for public comment.
We will continue to invest in improving the financial management capabilities of the Public Service, nationwide. It is for this reason that in 2011, we invoked section 100(1)(b) to take over the administration of certain departments in Limpopo province. I am pleased to report to the House that Limpopo has turned into a good story. [Applause.]
Limpopo had accumulated unauthorised expenditure of R2,7 billion, which dated back to 2001. A total of R2,2 billion has been cleared, cash management controls have improved and the province currently has a cash surplus of R4,2 billion. [Applause.] New leadership has been appointed within the Limpopo provincial Treasury, and systems to manage the tender and procurement processes are being put in place.
Wasteful practices have been eliminated and the Department of Education is delivering textbooks at a low cost. [Applause.] More than 2 000 qualified educators who were previously working as temporary teachers have been fully appointed and permanently deployed to the schools where their services are required. Progress is being registered in other departments, including health, roads and transport.
Many officials in the Limpopo province are being held accountable for their actions that led to the need to intervene. Prosecutions are under way by law-enforcement structures. Forensic investigations have produced 38 cases and 42 people have been arrested for corruption. The Limpopo turnaround is, remarkably, a good story. [Applause.] We congratulate the province.
We had also taken over some departments in the Free State in 2011 and they have also registered a good story. Major financial management improvements in the provincial Treasury and the Department of Police, Roads and Transport are clearly evident. Both departments are observing high levels of compliance with budgetary and other legislative prescripts, as well as achieving positive audit outcomes. The Free State Department of Police, Roads and Transport has, for the first time since 2007, received an unqualified audit opinion, while the provincial Treasury has achieved a clean audit outcome for two consecutive years. We congratulate the Free State, as well, for this successful turnaround. [Applause.] The success of the interventions demonstrates the seriousness of this government when it comes to improving governance and financial management.
Hon members, we made education an apex priority of our government. Personally, education is closest to my heart. I want to see every child, especially those from poor households, being able to follow their dreams and become engineers, doctors and whatever they want to be in this country. [Applause.] Poverty must not be a barrier to education.
The hon Pandor related the beautiful story of how we have met the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Access to Education and also that the number of girls attending primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions has improved significantly and is among the highest in the world. [Applause.] It is also important for us to ensure that children with disabilities are also accommodated in schools and provided with support.
Our performance in education, as outlined in detail by the hon Nzimande, indicates a country that has finally found the right formula on education. I trust that we will continue working together to improve education outcomes, so that our children do not ever experience the type of education that the hon Motsoaledi reminded us about yesterday.
The hon Moss spoke about the highly successful social security system, including pensions. The hon Matiwane welcomed grants but cautioned that social grants were unsustainable. The hon Mfundisi also questioned how social grants can be waved as an achievement and asked how we can build a nation on handouts. Grants are the most effective poverty-alleviation mechanism in our process of addressing the legacy of apartheid. [Applause.]
By the way, there is a mistake that many people make when they look at South Africa: thinking that South Africa, over time, was developing like all other countries. They forget that South Africa was a very funny country - a very funny country with the majority being deprived of their rights for centuries. With self-government and independent government within South Africa and with South Africa, it was a very funny arrangement. Some South Africans were even deprived of their South African passports and given some other passports.
If you take the 20 years and compare South Africa with any country that never experienced racial discrimination, you are missing the point. If you begin to comment on the basis that this country is failing to move, when the country has moved so fast within such a short space of time - something that no country on the continent has ever done ... [Applause.] - that is part of the mistake that people make when they make comparisons.
Therefore, when we deal with the issue of social grants, it is not because we are saying this country is going to live on these. We are dealing with a problem and we have no other way of dealing with it - of helping those who have absolutely nothing to have something to put on the table. In the meantime, whilst we are developing the country, the economy must, indeed, change the quality of lives.
If you talk about unemployment, for example, a very big percentage of those people who are unemployable have no skills because they were deprived of an education. We have got to deal with that. That is why we have even introduced adult education - so that the citizens of this country are turned around and can become something else.
Now, when people make criticisms, they don't take this into account. They almost talk as if democracy came to a country which was like any other country - normal. South Africa was totally abnormal. [Applause.] Therefore, if you comment on the 16 million people who benefit, you must appreciate that we are tackling a very serious problem that touches the ordinary people of this country, the poor; and if you don't know poverty, you were one of those who were advantaged during apartheid. You will never understand this. It always surprises if you see those who know this situation pretending to come from some other planet. It is absolutely surprising! [Applause.]
You know, those people still suffer today. If you want to see that, come to Cape Town. [Interjections.] There are two cities in one, in Cape Town ... [Interjections.] ... and there is no improvement ...