ATC130910: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of Auditor-General, dated 10 September 2013.
Appointment of the Auditor General
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of
Auditor-General, dated 10 September 2013.
The Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of
the Auditor-General, having considered the appointment of the Auditor-General,
referred to it, reports as follows:
1.
Background and introduction
Section 193(5)(a) of
the Constitution provides that the National Assembly must recommend for
appointment by the President persons nominated by a committee of the National
Assembly proportionally composed of members of all parties represented in the
Assembly.
Such a recommendation
must be approved by a resolution of at least 60 percent of the members of the
House in terms of section 193(5
)(
b). In terms of section
6(1) of the Public Audit Act No.25 of 2004 (The Act), the Speaker must initiate
the recruitment process whenever it becomes necessary to appoint a person as
Auditor-General.
As a result the
Speaker, in terms of Rule 214 of the Rules of the National Assembly, ensured
the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee that was approved as a resolution of
the House in the sitting of 4 June 2013, to prepare for the process of filling
the upcoming vacancy of the Auditor General. The term of office of the current
Auditor-General, Mr T
Nombembe
will expire on 30
November 2013. In terms of the resolution, the Committee is expected to report
to the House on or before 20 September 2013.
An Ad Hoc Committee
constituted of the following, started discharging its mandate on 16 July 2013.
African National Congress: 7
Ms S
Shope
-Sithole
Ms J Moloi-Moropa
Prof. LBG
Ndabandaba
Ms MD
Nxumalo
Mr T Mufamadi
Mr KA
Moloto
Ms J
Tshabalala
Democratic Alliance: 2
Dr DT George
Mr J
Steenhuisen
Congress of the People: 1
Mr N Koornhof
Inkatha
Freedom Party 1
Mr N Singh
The Committee is
accordingly submitting its report.
In its first meeting
of 16 July 2013 Mr T Mufamadi was unanimously elected the Chairperson of the
Committee in accordance with Rule 129 of the Rules of the National Assembly.
In accordance with
the principles of transparency and fairness, and all the Constitutional
requirements, the Committee decided to place an advertisement calling for interested
qualified South Africans to submit, in accordance with section 193(3) of the
Constitution their applications for the Committees consideration. The
advertisement was placed in the national newspapers to run from 19 July 2013 with
the closing date of 2 August 2013.
2.
Processing
of applications received
By the closing date the
number and the quality of some of the respondents to the advert were far below
the expectations and were very disappointing. Only 12 applications were
received, and only three of these met the requirements as stated in the advertisement.
Due to that situation and the considerations that the Office of the Auditor-General
is a Constitutional Institution, the Committee agreed to extend the closing
date to 23 August 2013. Out of 90 applications received by the 23 August 2013, only
the following six were found to meet the requirements as stipulated in the
advertisement:
1.
Shaik
Zaitum
Bee
Gaffair
2.
Thembekile
Kimi
Makwetu
3.
Josephine
Naicker
4.
Kaushic
Patel
5.
Avhashoni
Ramikosi
6.
Lily Zondo
The Committee agreed
to subject the six candidates to a process of interviews.
3.
Interview Process
The Committee interviewed
the candidates to test suitability, guided by the advertisement and to confirm
what they stated in their applications. Questions in the main focused on each
interviewees technical knowledge, ability to execute good leadership and
management in the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), and ability to work
with other people (behavioural) including key critical stakeholders and the
general staff of AGSA. Candidates were scored according to their performance
during the interview.
In order to achieve
the afore-said
objective, members asked
questions ranging from the understanding of this Chapter 9 institution in
support of South African democracy, general understanding of the
public finance management with relevant
policies and legislations, the funding model the institution is applying, the
location of AGSA in the South African Constitution and how this institution
should relate with other Chapter 9 institutions in expediting its functions, integrity
to possible lessons learnt from Public Finance Management Act (Provincial and
National ) and Municipal Finance Management Act
(Local government ) audit reports so as to ensure that clean audit is
achieved. All the six candidates were given equal opportunity and treated
fairly to interact with the panellist to display capability to hold the
position of Auditor-General.
4.
Observations
The members of the
Committee unanimously agreed that only two suitable candidates emerged out of the
interviews. Both candidates showed knowledge and understanding of management of
public finances and auditing in the public administration; displayed strong
leadership qualities; good interpersonal skills and high integrity. The
Committee therefore decided that a reference check be conducted on both
candidates to assist in this regard and agreed to reconvene on 10 September
2013. In a meeting of 10 September 2013, after the results of the reference
check were presented, and after thorough deliberations, the Committee
unanimously agreed that Mr TK
Makwetu
was the most
suitable candidate.
5.
Committee
Nomination
After having
interviewed the above candidates on 4 September 2013, in an open meeting at
Parliament, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of Auditor-General, in
accordance with section 193(5
)(
a) of the Constitution nominates
Mr TK
Makwetu
, for the
consideration and approval in terms of section
193(5)(b) and
for the resolution of the
National Assembly.
Report to be considered
Documents
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