Ministers;
The Auditor-General;
Directors-General;
Government officials from the Auditor-General's office and other government departments.

Good morning to you all.

It is a pleasure to be here today we don't celebrate government achievements often enough!

Let me start by applauding the Department of Social Development, Sports and Recreation South Africa, and Armscor an agency of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans on their achievements.

I would also like to congratulate the Department of Science and Technology and all the entities reporting to the DST on their clean audits for the 2014/15 financial year. (CSIR- Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, HSRC-Prof Crain Soudien and NRF- Dr Beverley Damonse). We have complied with all the relevant legislation in respect of financial and performance management, and our staff have worked very hard to strengthen our administrative and management systems.

This has included implementing a turnaround strategy for supply chain management, strengthening internal controls, enhancing and synergising processes and procedures, realigning workflows, training employees and, most importantly, ensuring meticulous consequence management.

With a budget of R6,480 billion in 2014, the department and its entities have worked hard to address government priorities so that we enhance the quality of life of all South Africans.

Taking into account the current economic climate, the department is aware of the need to maintain the highest standards of corporate governance, which is fundamental to the management of public finances and resources. We also continue striving to find innovative ways to optimise the use of available resources.

We are proud of our corporate governance framework and our audit and risk management teams, which have contributed to the achievement of these clean audits. I would like to thank all the officials at the department especially our DG, CFO and DDGs and entities whose hard work earned us this recognition.

I also wish to thank the Auditor-General for the award initiative, which reminds us to appreciate excellence and to maintain standards. I can assure you that the Department of Science and Technology and its entities will continue making every effort to ensure that our governance is not merely good, but excellent.

Thank you.