Letter from the Minister of Social Development dated 18 February 2005 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 Central Drug Authority for 2003:

EXPLANATION ON THE LATE SUBMISSION AND TABLING OF THE CENTRAL DRUG AUTHORITY (CDA) ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2003, BY THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, FOR THE YEAR WHICH ENDED ON 31 MARCH 2003

In terms of section 2(11)(a)(b) of the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Amendment Act (Act, 14 of 1999) and Section 65(1)(a) of the PFMA, I am required to table the CDA Annual Report in the National Assembly. Subsection (2)(a) further requires me to table a written explanation to Parliament on the circumstances that prevented me from tabling such a report within six months from the end of the financial year.

In this regard I would like to report that I was unable to table the said report, in June 2003, due to the following reasons:

1. Firstly, the CDA Chairperson, who was responsible for finalizing the report, in June 2003, was unable to do so as he was involved in the arrangements to launch the National Drug Awareness campaign, "Ke Moja" in Cape Town on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. This project enabled the stakeholders to work together to combat and prevent substance abuse in the country.

2. Secondly, the Chairperson, retired from his employment, Department of Justice, at the end of October 2003, before having finalized the CDA Annual Report. The aplogy letter to the National Assembly was subsequently not submitted.

3. Thirdly, the acting Chairperson, who took over the reigns in terms of section 2(7)(b) of the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Amendment Act, (Act 14 of 1999), could unfortunately not finalise the report to be tabled immediately in 2004, due to an overload personal work schedule.

Kind regards,

signed

Dr Z S T Skweyiya, MP
MINISTER