Thank you, Chairperson, and my apologies for the late notice. I was only told five minutes ago that I had to respond. I want to echo the sentiments of the chairperson of our committee in congratulating the Auditor-General, Mr Nombembe, on the excellent work that he and his office do for us as civil society.
Recently, we were in Austria with our committee and we were amazed at the kind of respect that the Auditor-General of South Africa has internationally. I think we can be very, very proud that Mr Nombembe carries out his duties in such an exemplary manner, not only in South Africa, but also outside South Africa.
One always marvels at the quality of the work produced by the office of the Auditor-General but, as other hon members have said, I think we need to take very, very seriously the outcomes, resolutions and recommendations of the audit reports. If one looks at the Public Finance Management Act, you will find that there are many ways in which the transgressors - people who do not follow the rules and regulations of basic accounting - can be held accountable and even dismissed, if necessary. That is where we are lacking.
The nonpayment of approximately R263 million from national departments for 15 days, the R206 million from local government and R58 million from other statutory bodies is a matter of concern, and hopefully some day we could have a more extensive debate here, as other hon members have said, about how Parliament could support this institution so that we don't have municipalities that really cannot afford audit fees, and do not have proper audits done. We really need to look into that particular aspect. However, on behalf of the IFP, we support the one recommendation that we have made with regard to retaining the surplus. Thank you.