Speaker, I think it is common cause that there are serious problems in the Department of Public Works. It has been beset by challenges of corruption, overcharging - a series of anomalies. I think that Minister Nxesi has been leading a very concerted attempt to deal with corruption and difficulties in the department. Indeed, the opposition parties saluted him during his budget speech for the role that he has been playing and for the number of officials that have been charged, either criminally or through disciplinary processes. As part of that turnaround process, the Minister has also led an investigation into the President's private residence at Nkandla.
As a result of that, with the co-operation of the Auditor-General in particular and the Special Investigating Unit to some extent, the Department of Public Works has produced a preliminary report indicating that there are indeed serious anomalies and strong indications that there has been overcharging, grave variations in cost, and many anomalies. So, we have produced an interim report. We are very anxious to bring this report to Parliament so that Parliament can interrogate the report. [Interjections.] We have no problem with that.
However, the difficulty is that you cannot make sense - and we cannot make sense - of our report, because what we have looked at is the anomalies in the construction process. [Interjections.] That is what we have overseen as Public Works - unless you also look at the scope of work; why particular things were ordered in terms of security requirements. That is not in our mandate as the Department of Public Works, and that is why we have said to the Speaker that we would like to present this report. However, the Speaker and the Speaker's Office have correctly and wisely said that in order for this multiparty Parliament to interrogate the report and the circumstances around the Nkandla expenditure, it was important that questions were addressed that were not just directed at the Department of Public Works but also at the Security cluster, which was responsible for defining the scope of the work and the requirements for the security of the President and his family. We want this Parliament, as a multiparty Parliament, to have full scope, without any hindrance. Of course, that would therefore be done in camera, because we are dealing with security matters and sensitive matters. [Interjections.] We are not trying to cover up. We want you to have the chance, precisely, and therefore, Mr Speaker, you were absolutely correct in deciding that this report should be discussed not just as a standalone report but as a report in the context of a range of other matters, which should be discussed in the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence. [Interjections.] [Applause.]