Letter from the Minister of Communications, dated 26 February 2003, tabled in terms of section 65(2)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of 1999), explaining the delays in the tabling of the Reports and Financial Statements of the Department of Communications and the Universal Service Agency:

Dear Madam Speaker

The Annual Report of the Department was duly compiled and given to a BEE service provider contracted to do the layout, design and printing.

Unfortunately the contractor took almost three months in attempting to execute the project and thus causing the delay in meeting the deadlines of producing and tabling of the report.

The Universal Service Agency had problems with the publisher of the Annual Report and they had to engage another publisher to complete the work.

It is due to these unforeseen circumstances beyond our control that the report was not tabled timeously as required in terms of section 65(2) of the PFMA.

Kind regards
Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, MP