Twenty-Fourth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, dated 18 September 2002:
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts, having considered the Report of the Auditor-General on the financial statements of the President's Fund (the Fund) for the year ended 31 March 2001 [RP 99-01], reports as follows:
1. Audit opinion
The Committee noted that the Auditor-General expressed a qualified opinion on the financial audit and an unqualified opinion on the compliance audit.
Regarding the qualified opinion, the Committee noted that it is not feasible for the Fund to institute accounting controls over cash collections from donations prior to initial entry of the collections in the accounting records.
The Committee was assured by the Office of the Auditor-General that donations received by the Fund were properly recorded.
2. Government grant
The Committee noted that no grant was received by the Fund during the year under review. However, an amount of R190 million was voted during the subsequent year by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development as a grant to the Fund in anticipation of the final reparation payments.
3. Future of Fund
The Committee noted that the Fund will continue to exist until a date fixed by the President by proclamation in the Gazette, whereupon all funds and property vested in the Fund immediately prior to that date will be transferred to the Disaster Relief Fund referred to in Chapter 2 of the Fund-raising Act, 1978, and will vest in the Disaster Relief Fund.