State entities in scramble to meet annual report due date

MANY government departments are leaving it to the last minute to table their entities’ 2014/15 annual reports before tomorrow’s deadline.

This is putting great pressure on MPs who must deal with the hefty documents in their own budget review and recommendation reports, meant to give input into allocations and departmental expenditure, ahead of the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) scheduled for October 21.

With two days to go, the outstanding annual reports include Arts and Culture, which has 27 entities including performing arts councils and heritage institutions, Rural Development and Land Affairs, Energy, Justice, Public Works, Co-operative Governance and Defence.

In several cases the entities’ documents have been submitted, but not the departments, or the other way round: Human Settlements has tabled its entities’ annual reports, but not the department’s, Rural Development, which still has to table its annual report, has however tabled that of the Commission on Restitution. Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation has submitted its 2014/15 annual report, but not the Department of Women in the Presidency.

Among those departments which submitted all annual reports are Labour, including its entities like the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Commission for Conciliation, Arbitration and Mediation, Science and Technology, Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29

2015

According to the Public Finance Management Act, annual reports must be submitted within six months of the end of the financial year, or at the latest by tomorrow.

While departments could submit their reports as soon as April 1, or the start of the new financial year, over past years the practice has developed to leave tabling to the last minute. – Marianne Merten