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The Portfolio Committee on Transport has welcomed the Auditor-General’s (AG’s) retraction of a statement made that “the Committee’s performance had regressed in the past financial year”.

“The Committee accepts the statement as a genuine oversight on the part of the AG when the presentation was prepared. The Committee does not deal with money and financial statements,” the Chairperson Ms Dikeledi Magadzi said.

“The AG’s scope of work, as reflected in the Constitution and any other piece of information, does not include evaluating the Committee. The Committee appreciates the work the office of the AG is doing and it helps members,” she said.

The AG’s office erroneously claimed it evaluated Committees of Parliament, and that the Transport Portfolio Committee was not doing well. The statement has now been retracted. “As much as the Committee would welcome any evaluation of its work, it would have been unfortunate to be evaluated without your knowledge. Such an assumption would not have been justifiable in law,” Ms Magadzi said.

The AG had earlier briefed the Committee on its audit outcomes of the Department of Transport for 2014/15 financial year. Ms Magadzi said the Committee accepted the findings and the recommendations of the AG on the department. “The transport portfolio (DoT) is an essential driver of SA’s economy, and any attempts to improve its governance, management and finances are a welcome relief,” she said.

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi