Letter from the Minister of Transport dated 19 November 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 the Department of

Transport and other public entities for 2003-2004:

Dear Madam Speaker

I write to inform Parliament that in terms of sections 65(1)(a) of the

Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of 1999), as

amended (PFMA), I was unfortunately not able to table the following

Annual Reports and audited Financial Statements for the year ended

31 March 2004. The written explanations in terms of sub-section

(2)(a) of the PFMA for the late tabling of the Reports are:-

* DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT

Certain editing and information changes took longer than

expected to complete. (The Annual report has since been tabled

on 19 November 2004).

* THE SOUTH AFRICAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY

Delay in the printing of the Annual Report—the printing

company went bankrupt. (The Annual Report has since been

tabled on 19 November 2004).

* THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAIL COMMUTER CORPORATION

Disclosures in the Financial Statements had to be amended to

fully comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

* THE SOUTH AFRICAN MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY

The late completion of the 2003 Audit Report had a serious

rollover effect on the 2004 audit and its completion in time. The

Financial Statements also had to be re-submitted to the auditors.

* THE CROSS-BORDER ROAD TRANSPORT AGENCY

The C-BRTAreceived the audited Financial Statements from the

Auditor-General on the 31st August 2004. Thereafter, the

combined Report had to be sent back to the Auditor-General for

scrutiny to ensure that the Annual Report and the Financial

Statements are not in conflict with each other.

* THE ROAD ACCIDENT FUND (RAF)

The audit could not be completed in time due to the extent of the

audit.

* THE ROAD TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

An unforeseen delay occurred in the auditing of the Financial

Statements.

* THE RAILWAY SAFETY REGULATOR (RSR)

Disclosures in the Financial Statements had to be amended to

fully comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice. The

Financial Statements therefore had to be re-submitted to the

Auditor-General.

I have instructed the DOT to ensure that the outstanding Reports are

tabled as soon as possible.

I trust that this will be in order.

Kind regards,

signed