Dear Madam Speaker

The National Development Agency (NDA) is a Public Entity that is

listed as a Schedule 3A of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999

(Act No 1 of 1999) [PFMA] and reports directly to me in my capacity

as its Executive Authority.

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. 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 NDAfor the year

ended 31 March 2004 for the following reasons:

1. The finalisation of NDA’s annual audit by the Office of the

Auditor-General was delayed because of the problems and

management challenges faced by the NDA during the period

under review, including:

1.1 The late submission of annual financial statements of NDA

to the Office of the Auditor-General by a period of two

weeks due to the adjustments that had to be made on them

before the audit could be commenced; and

1.2 The fire that broke out at NDA offices in July 2004 whilst

the audit was in progress, which destroyed some financial

information, which was essential for the completion of the

audit. The auditors had to carry out additional alternative

procedures and in some instances repeat the work previously

performed in order to verify some of the information

submitted to them as audit evidence following the fire.

The NDA Board has recommended the appointment of the Chief

Financial officer to take over the work currently done by the

consulting firm, KPMG and the post of the Chief Financial Officer has

been advertised. I believe that the filling of these two critical positions

will assist in improving financial and strategic management and

bridging the leadership gap at the NDA.

The audit has now been completed and I expect to table the Annual

Report of the NDAin November 2004 as soon as the Board submits it

to me. I trust that this motivation will receive favourable consideration

by Parliament.

Kind regards,

signed