Pretoria – A media report alleging that government has sent back a National Treasury report on municipalities for “repackaging” is untrue, says Cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi.
In a statement on Wednesday, Manyi said that an article in the Afrikaans Daily Beeld on Wednesday claiming that Cabinet has sent back the report supposedly to Treasury for repackaging was inaccurate.
Cabinet as part of its routine business of performance monitoring and evaluation from time to time receives reports on the performance of government across all three spheres namely national, provincial and local.
Some of the reports are compiled by government departments and entities.
“Other reports, like the one referred to in the article, are compiled by Chapter 9 institutions such as the Office of the Auditor-General. These reports are meant to give Cabinet updates on the state of service delivery and introduce necessary interventions where required.”
Manyi said the purported report referred to in the article was presented to Cabinet in mid-March in 2011 by the Auditor –General and not Treasury as claimed in the newspaper report.
“Contrary to the Beeld article, there was no uproar of any sort when it was presented; nor was there any instruction to the National Treasury or the Auditor-General for that matter to ‘repackage’ the report,” said Manyi.
“The assertion that Cabinet ordered the National Treasury to ‘repackage’ the report is not only untrue but also an affront to the integrity and ethical conduct of Cabinet, and is thus dismissed with the contempt it deserves. This assertion also betrays a fatal lack of understanding of how institutions such as the Office of Auditor-General operate,” he explained.
He said Cabinet respects the independence of Chapter 9 institutions and will not interfere as they carry out their constitutional responsibilities and obligations.
“It is only after the Auditor-General has made the report public that Cabinet will decide whether or not to comment on its findings and or contents. Once again we call upon media to verify their facts as a matter of course so that the public is not misled,” said Manyi. – BuaNews
