The Auditor-General is appointed by the National Assembly and must submit audit reports (including matters of accountability) to the relevant national or provincial legislatures.

The Public Audit Act also established a Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Auditor General, which provides assistance, protection and oversight, and ensures independence, impartiality and effectiveness. The Act provides an auditing framework for all public sector entities, and specifies that audit reports must reach Parliament within a reasonable time, while also providing for the means to do so.

Through the Public Audit Act, the Auditor-General has the power to perform search and seizure procedures, if there is reasonable suspicion that information needed is being withheld.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, [ LINK ]

Auditor-General of South Africa, 2008. Evaluation of alternative funding options for the Auditor-General, Draft work-in-progress report. June 2008, version 1.8. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), Section 188. Available at: htp://www.info.gov.za

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

In terms of section 194 of the Constitution, special majorities are required for both the appointment, and removal from office of the Auditor-General. Dismissal would require a resolution adopted with a supporting vote of at least a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, on specific grounds of misconduct, incapacity or incompetence. Such a removal has not occurred. The seven-year term of Auditor-General Shauket Fakie expired on Nov. 30, 2006, and Terence Nombembe was appointed to fill the position from Dec. 1, 2006.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007. Annual Report 2006/07. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]

Global Integrity, 2006. Country Report: South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ].

Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, 2007. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: A report to the National Assembly of the Parliament of South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), 2003. Country Corruption Assessment Report, South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

A Minimum Qualifications Framework for staff has been introduced, which is based on either a Chartered Accountant qualification or equivalent. The OAG has been working to ensure that all staff possess a minimum qualification, and reported in 2008 that 100 staff had qualified over the past year. The 2006/07 Annual Report that 129 staff members passed final professional qualifying examinations, consisting of: 37 chartered accountants; 88 registered government auditors; and 4 certified information systems auditors.

However, issues of high vacancy rates and staff turnover have been significant challenges for the OAG in recent years. The 2006/07 Annual Report noted that while some progress had been made in 2005/06, staff turnover again rose to 16.1 percent (excluding trainee accountants), exceeding the 12 percent target. Turnover was particularly high amongst managers and assistant managers, and the OAG struggles to attract audit professionals in a highly competitive labor market.

More recently, at a meeting of the parliamentary parliamentary Standing Committee on the Auditor-General in April of 2008, it was reported that progress in filling vacancies has primarily been at the lower levels within the organization. The OAG continues to struggle in filling managerial and supervisory positions in particular, creating a risk that trainees and junior staff are not adequately supervised. At the time of the meeting, 592 vacancies still existed within the OAG, at a rate of about 14 percent.

Staff shortages have led to increasing dependence on outsourcing to commercial audit firms, and the employment of limited duration contractors (LDC's) often earning higher packages than permanent employees. Further, overhead recovery through audit work done by staff is being lost due to the need to outsource, and this has contributed to a budget deficit, meaning cuts to essential costs in some instances.

It was recently reported that the OAG will be recruiting 20 auditors from India to compensate for staff shortages.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2008. Evaluation of alternative funding options for the Auditor-General, Draft work-in-progress report. June 2008, version 1.8. Available at: [ LINK ]" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007. Annual Report 2006-07. Available at: [ LINK ]

Hamlyn, M., 2008. Govt imports Indian auditors, I-Net Bridge, Aug. 20, 2008. Available at: [ LINK ]

Standing Committee on the Auditor General, Parliament, 2008. Meeting on the Office of Auditor General: Standards, Restructuring and Governance, Turnaround, Staffing and Funding. April 8, 2008. Available at: http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20080408-office-auditor-general-standards-restructuring-and-governance-turnaro

The Report of the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions underscored the importance of public perception, noting that the Auditor-General must not only be independent but must be seen to be independent.

The seven-year term of Auditor-General Shauket Fakie expired on Nov. 30, 2006, and Terence Nombembe was appointed to fill the position from Dec. 1, 2006. Nombembe was previously the Deputy Auditor-General, and is the first African to hold the Auditor-General position.

However, it is important to note that following the controversial multi-billion rand Arms Deal, Fakie was criticized for allegedly attempting to keep information from the public and Parliament. The Pretoria High Court found that he had failed to comply with a court order to provide CCII Systems, a sub-contracting bidder, with documents pertaining to the government's arms procurement process. However, this ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals, which also set aside a suspended sentence of imprisonment the High Court had imposed on Fakie.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2006. South African President Thabo Mbeki appoints new Auditor-General (AG), Nov. 16, 2006. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]

Ensor, L., 2006. Meet SA's New Auditor-General, Business Day Weekender, Nov. 18, 2006. Available at: [ LINK ]

Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, 2007. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: A report to the National Assembly of the Parliament of South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

Pressly, D., 2003. Auditor-General criticized for Arms Deal probe, Business Day, May 22, 2003.

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: htp://www.info.gov.za/gazette/acts/2004/a25-04.pdf

SAPA, 2006. Auditor-general, arms deal company in court, Mail & Guardian online, Feb. 14, 2006. Available at: [ LINK ]

SAPA, 2006. Court overturns Fakie arms-deal contempt ruling, Mail & Guardian online, March 31, 2006. Available at: [ LINK ]

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), 2003. Country Corruption Assessment Report, South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

Van Vuuren, H. 2005. National Transparency Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report, South Africa 2005. Transparency International. Available at: [ LINK ]

Currently, the (OAG) is set up to be self-funding, through the recovering of fees from audit clients, which are used to defray expenses. However, the OAG has suggested that fundamental deficiencies exist in this funding model, and that these have been compounded by a rapid growth in the cost of auditing due to new standards, a rise in bad debts, and critical staff vacancies. Accordingly, the OAG reviewed a number of options for alternative funding, including proposals that: the budget of the OAG could be included in Parliament's budget vote; that audit fees could be recovered from relevant provincial treasuries, or departments of local government; or, that indirect costs could be funded via a parliamentary allocation and direct costs from audit clients. However, the OAG has ultimately proposed that the current method of feel recovery from auditees should be maintained, but with market-related annual tariff increases.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2008. Evaluation of alternative funding options for the Auditor-General, Draft work-in-progress report. June 2008, version 1.8. Available at: [ LINK ]" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Sabelo, 2000. Local authorities owe AG's office millions, IOL, Sept. 6, 2000. Available at: [ LINK ]

Standing Committee on the Auditor General, Parliament, 2008. Meeting on the Office of Auditor General: Standards, Restructuring and Governance, Turnaround, Staffing and Funding. April 8, 2008. Available at: http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20080408-office-auditor-general-standards-restructuring-and-governance-turnaro

Standing Committee on the Auditor General, Parliament, 2008. Meeting on Funding Options for Office of the Auditor-General. June 12, 2008. Available at: [ LINK ]

Audit reports are publicly available online through the web site of the Auditor-General, [ LINK ] .

However, the ability of the Auditor-General to make regular public reports has been constrained to some extent by late submissions of financial records from various government departments. The Auditor-General's 2006/07 Annual Report, for example, notes that many audit clients do not meet the reporting requirements set out in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) (Act 1 of 1999) and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) (Act 56 of 2003). The Report also states that receiving financial statements after the prescribed deadline not only impacts on the ability of the AG to perform its function in this regard, but could impact on the ability of the auditees to perform within the accountability framework.

In 2006/07, the Auditor-General was able to finalize audit reports of 90 percent of PFMA organizations, including national and provincial departments and listed public entities, and 95 percent of other PFMA organizations, including Circular 1 entitites, constitutional institution, other entities, statutory bodies, trading entities and unlisted entities, within prescribed deadlines. However, only 42 percent of MFMA audit reports were finalized according to prescribed deadlines, referring to municipalities, consolidated municipal financial statements, and municipal entities.

A 2005 Transparency International report also noted that the previous Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Gavin Woods, had criticized the reports of the Auditor-General, describing them as partly superficial. However, the report also notes that this may be in fact a reflection of the information provided by departments, rather than the competency of the Auditor-General.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007. Annual Report 2006-07. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]

Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) (Act 56 of 2003). [ LINK ]

Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, 2007. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: A report to the National Assembly of the Parliament of South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) (Act 1 of 1999). Available at: [ LINK ]

Van Vuuren, H. 2005. National Transparency Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report, South Africa 2005. Transparency International. Available at: [ LINK ]

In 2007, the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions observed that while the Auditor-General regularly submits reports addressing recommendations to Parliament, the lack of implementation of the recommendations contained in these reports by affected departments is cause for concern. The Committee also proposed that the Auditor-General should make special reports to Parliament in cases where departments receive qualified audits over a number of years, and that such special reports should result in debates in Parliament. A 2005 Transparency International reported also raised issues of inaction from the civil service in response to the recommendations of the Auditor General.

Reports released by the Auditor-General also indicate that a number of departments have received consistently poor audit results in recent years. Between 2001/02 and 2006/07, national departments with ongoing, poor audit results include: Correctional Services (6 qualified audits); Defense (5 qualified audits); Health (5 qualified audits); Home Affairs (4 qualified audits and 2 disclaimers); Justice and Constitutional Development (4 qualified audits); Labor (4 qualified audits); Water Affairs and Forestry (3 qualified audits and 2 adverse audits).

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007. General Report of the Auditor-General on the Audit Outcomes of National and Provincial Departments, Public Entities, and Constitutional Institutions for the Financial Year 2006-07. Available at: [ LINK ]

Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, 2007. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: A report to the National Assembly of the Parliament of South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ]

Van Vuuren, H. 2005. National Transparency Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report, South Africa 2005. Transparency International. Available at: [ LINK ]

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, [ LINK ]" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Auditor-General of South Africa, 2008. Report of the Auditor General on the Management and Provision of Official Accommodation to Staff at the Department Of Defense (DOD). Available at: http:?/www.agsa.co.za.

Auditor-General of South Africa, 2008. Special Audit Investigation into Alleged Irregularities in Respect of Payments to Adult Basic Education and Training Centers. Available at: http://www.agsa.co.za.

Global Integrity, 2006. Country Report: South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ].

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

Section 21 of the Public Audit Act reinforces this obligation, which requires reports to be submitted to legislatures, where they are accessible to the public.

Audit reports are publicly available without charge online through the website of the Auditor-General, [ LINK ]. Individual government departments must also publish audit results in their Annual Reports, which are available to download from departmental web sites, and from the government web site ([ LINK ]).

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007 . Ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: Response of the Auditor-General. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]/documents/constitution/index.htm" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act 2 of 2000). Available at: http://www.info.gov.za

Global Integrity, 2006. Country Report: South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ].

Section 21 of the Public Audit Act reinforces this obligation, which requires reports to be submitted to legislatures, where they are accessible to the public.

Audit reports are publicly available for free online through the web site of the Auditor-General, [ LINK ] . Individual government departments must also publish audit results in their Annual Reports, which are available to download from departmental web sites, and from the government web site ([ LINK ]). Delays, however, may occur when government departments themselves are late in finalizing or submitting Annual Reports.

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007 . Ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: Response of the Auditor-General. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]/documents/constitution/index.htm" target="_blank">[ LINK ]

Public Audit Act (Act 25 of 2004). Available at: [ LINK ]

Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act 2 of 2000). Available at: http://www.info.gov.za

Global Integrity, 2006. Country Report: South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ].

Section 21 of the Public Audit Act reinforces this obligation, which requires reports to be submitted to legislatures, where they are accessible to the public.

Audit reports are publicly available for free online through the web site of the Auditor-General, [ LINK ] . Individual government departments must also publish audit results in their Annual Reports, which are available to download from departmental web sites, and from the government web site ([ LINK ]).

References: Auditor-General of South Africa, [ LINK ]

Auditor-General of South Africa, 2007 . Ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions: Response of the Auditor-General. Available at: [ LINK ]

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). Available at: [ LINK ]

Global Integrity, 2006. Country Report: South Africa. Available at: [ LINK ].