and Improper Conduct and Prejudice in the rendering of services at

Braamfontein Refugee Reception Office (Now Rosettenville Premises).

(b) Letter from the Minister of Social Development dated 19 October

2004 to the Speaker of the National Assembly, 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 Annual Report of

Social Development for 2003-2004:

Dear Madam Speaker

In terms of section 65(1)(a) of the PFMA, I am required to table in the

National Assembly the annual report and financial statements of my

department and public entities reporting to me within one month after

the accounting officer for the department received the audit report

from the Auditor-General. Sub-section (2)(a) further requires me to

table a written explanation in Parliament in circumstances where I am

unable to table such reports within six months of the end of the

financial year (i.e. 30 September 2004), setting out the reasons why

they were not tabled.

In this regard I would like to report that I was unable to table the

annual report and audited financial statements of the Department for

the year ended 31 March 2004 within the prescribed period for the

following reasons:

1. Firstly, a number of senior management positions in my

department became vacant following the departure of the

previous incumbents of those posts. These include the post of

Deputy Director-General: Integrated Development, the post of

Chief Director: Development Implementation Support, the post

of Chief Director: Corporate Services and the post of the Chief

of Staff in the Ministry. Due to unforeseen circumstances, all

these posts remained vacant for a period exceeding 6 months.

The remaining senior managers had to share the responsibilities

previously assigned to these positions.

2. Secondly, the management crisis that hit the National Development

Agency, which is a schedule 3A public entity reporting to

me necessitated that I deploy, since October 2003, two of the

other remaining senior managers, i.e. the Chief Financial Officer

and the Director: Stakeholder Management as part of the envoy

that took over responsibility for the day-to-day management of

the NDAfollowing the suspension of its Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) and its Chief Operations Officer (COO). Due to unforeseen

delays in finalising the cases against these two NDA

officials, my officials find themselves still responsible for

assisting the NDA almost a year after their deployment to that

organisation.

3. Thirdly, the process of establishing the new South African Social

Security Agency has put an enormous pressure on the senior

managers who have to cope with the huge task and responsibility

of meeting the deadlines announced by the President for the

operationalisation of the Agency while they still have to carry on

with their day to day running of their programmes.

The department is busy addressing its capacity challenges. Three of

the four vacant senior management posts have been filled over the last

two months and only the post of Chief Director: Corporate Services is

still being filled. Following the resignation of the CEO of the NDA

and the ensuing process of filling that position, the Department

officials (Envoy) will be released from these other duties and resume

their normal responsibilities in the department.

The Department has, however, managed to table its annual report and

financial statements during October 2004.

Kind regards,

signed