Letter dated 5 March 2003 from the Minister of Transport to the Speaker, tabled in terms of section 65(2)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of 1999), explaining the delay in the tabling of the following annual reports:

Department of Transport
A large volume of audit evidence was requested from the Department on 11 July 2002 and documents were supplied for audit until the auditors finalised their audit.

A first draft Audit Report was only received on 22 August 2002 and discussed at an Audit Committee meeting on 27 August 2002. Because the Audit Report contained a qualification regarding the late submission of supporting audit evidence, the Audit Committee decided that the Department should rather attempt to remove this qualification and submit its Annual Report late than to accept the qualification, because the Department was of the opinion that the evidence was indeed supplied during the audit.

The Department then approved that the audit work should continue as an attempt to resolve the qualification in the draft Audit Report. The audit was continued and resulted in the qualification being removed from the Audit Report.

Cross Border Road Transport Agency
The financial statements were supplied on 31 May 2002, but incorrect opening balances, emanating from 1998/99, were not yet resolved and the financial statements did not fully comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

An agreement was reached between the Agency and the Office of the Auditor-General that amended financial statements would be supplied for audit on 26 September 2002. This caused a delay in the finalisation of the audit and Annual Report within the prescribed timeframes.

Road Accident Fund
The provision for outstanding claims has a material impact on the financial statements of the Road Accident Fund. The Road Accident Fund's internal actuary calculated a provision for the 2001/02 financial statements, which would have been substantiated by an external report at a later stage. Due to the materiality of the provision, the Office of the Auditor-General insisted on a comprehensive actuarial report from external actuaries before finalising their audit. This report was only received on 16 August 2002 and resulted in the late finalisation of the audit.

South African Maritime Safety Authority
In terms of section 55(b) of the Public Finance Management Act the Accounting Authority must approve the financial statements. No Board meetings were however held to approve the financial statements within the prescribed time frames.

The Audit Management letter was only received on 8 August 2002 and the first draft Audit Report on 16 August 2002. The Audit Committee took a resolution on 9 September 2002 that certain issues be further investigated and cleared before the audit report is finalised.

S A National Roads Agency Ltd
Information regarding a long-term forecast of future expected revenues and expenditures for the LSR (Loan Supported by Revenue) calculations, was only supplied for audit on 8 September 2002. Although this is required before an audit opinion can be expressed, the information forms no part of the accounting records and does not represent actual transactions.

The Audit Management letter was only received on 16 August 2002 and a report on the review of the Information Technology General Environment was only issued on 10 August 2002. These reports had to be responded to before the audit could be finalised and led to the delay in finalising the audit.

Urban Transport Fund
The financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2001 did not comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and contained inconsistencies with the financial statements of previous years.

A number of qualifications appeared in the draft Audit Report for the year ended 31 March 2001. It was found that these qualifications were as a result of poor drafting of the financial statements and opening balances that were not correctly captured in the ledger when the Urban Transport Fund started its seperate accounting system with effect from 1 April 2000.

The errors on the financial statements were corrected and the first draft Annual Report of the Urban Transport Fund for both 2001 and 2002, excluding the Audit Reports, were supplied to the auditors on 19 September 2002 to enable them to finalise their audits for both years.

The Acting Minister of Transport:
Report to the National Assembly on the National Land Transport Transition Act, 2000 (NLTTA).
Copies of the report is available at the Office of the Clerk of Papers on request