Mr President, whilst I agree that one has to act, and whilst I agree that there are legislative prescripts that recognise and identify fruitless and wasteful expenditure, what is cause for concern is the ability of the departments, firstly, to deal with allegations of corruption and, secondly, to take disciplinary action against offenders. I say so, Mr President, after reading from the Public Service Commission's report of March 2011. In the report it is stated that when it comes to investigations into allegations of corruption, only 15% of the departments were found to have advanced investigative capacity and 25% to have basic capacity; others don't have any capacity.
On disciplinary actions, the PSC has found that departments are often lenient in imposing disciplinary sanctions against officials found guilty of fraud and corruption. It is common to find written or final written warnings to officials found guilty of fraud and corruption. This ties up with the question posed by the hon Koornhof that not enough is being done to make an example of those officials who are responsible, especially for fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure is expenditure that brings no tangible outcome for the department or taxpayer. [Time expired.]