Month: June 2024

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has gazetted the latest notice of maximum fines for registered auditors found guilty of improper conduct.

This followed the publication of a notice for public comment, in January 2024, proposing the withdrawal of the notice of maximum fines previously gazetted on 15 June 2023 and the publication of new maximum fines.

‘The purpose of Government Notice No. 4933 of 6 June 2024, withdrawing Government Notice No. 3549 of 15 June 2023 and determining new maximum amounts, is to provide for the maximum amounts for both sections 51(2) and 51B(3)(b) of the Auditing Profession Act, 2005,1 as amended, to apply per charge.

‘The addition of the words per charge in respect of fines imposed following a disciplinary hearing (which was the main amendment) was intended to align with the imposition of fines in respect of matters finalised through admission of guilt processes. This, having been the intention prior to publication of the 15 June notice,’ National Treasury said on Thursday.

Fol
lowing a 30-day comment period and having reviewed the written comments received by National Treasury, the Minister determined the following maximum amounts as maximum fines that may be imposed on registered auditors found guilty of improper conduct:

R5 million per charge, as the amount envisaged in section 51(2) of the Act, which may be imposed on an individual registered auditor who admits guilt as contemplated in section 49(4)(a) of the Act; and

R15 million per charge, as the amount envisaged in section 51(2) of the Act, which may be imposed on a firm of auditors that admits guilt as contemplated in section 49(4)(a) of the Act; and

R10 million per charge, as the amount envisaged in section 51B(3)(b) of the Act, which may be imposed on an individual registered auditor who is charged and found guilty or if the registered auditor admits guilt to the charge; and

R25 million per charge, as the amount envisaged in section 51B(3)(b) of the Act, which may be imposed on a firm of auditors that is charged and fo
und guilty or if the firm admits guilt to the charge.

‘These maximum fines will be applicable to improper conduct committed from 6 June 2024, being the date of publication of gazette notice 4933.

‘Therefore, the notice does not apply retrospectively, and the maximum fines promulgated by the Minister on 15 June 2023 will remain applicable for improper conduct committed between 15 June 2023 and before 6 June 2024.

‘A framework, which will guide the implementation of the maximum fines in a proportional and scalable manner, will be issued by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) in due course, for public comment, before adoption by the Board,’ National Treasury said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Parliamentary administrations are hard at work in preparation to receive and welcome the newly elected representatives of the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures.

This is according to Secretary of Parliament Xolile George, who was speaking during the official handover of the lists of new representatives on Thursday at the Constitutional Court.

The lists were handed over by Electoral Commission of South Africa Chairperson, Mosotho Moepya, to Chief Justice Raymond Zondo who in turn handed them to George.

South Africans headed to the polls last week to elect new representatives for the seventh administration in the country’s most competitive elections since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

‘[Let] me take this opportunity, on behalf of our National Parliament, to extend gratitude, respect and congratulations to the people of South Africa who showed up in their numbers to exercise their Constitutional right to participate in our seventh democratic elections to determine their government and their nati
onal and provincial representatives.

‘As the Parliamentary Administrations across the legislative sector, we have been hard at work preparing to welcome the elected representatives of the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures and the establishment of our sventh democratic Parliament and the nine Provincial Legislatures,’ George said.

He outlined the ‘on boarding’ processes that Parliament will undertake for the newly elected members of the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces and the Provincial Legislatures.

‘We have critically considered the parliamentary rules, mechanisms and processes to ensure that the work of Members of Parliament is facilitated and supported effectively.

‘Arrangements are in place for the first sittings of the National Assembly, the Provincial Legislatures and the National Council of Provinces.

‘With the receipt of the official list of elected representatives I assure the Chief Justice and our nation that our work will continue in earnest to ensure seaml
ess, efficient and effective foundational processes, so that the work of Members of both Houses of Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures can commence without delay,’ he said.

Will of the people

At the handover ceremony, Moepya revealed that Parliament will be made up of 174 females (43.5%) and 226 males (56.5%).

The age range for the representatives is as follows:

12 candidates are aged 20 to 29

67 are in the 30 to 39 age band

110 are between 40 and 49

110 are 50 to 59

90 are 60 to 69

11 are 70 and above

‘These representatives reflect the choices, hopes and aspirations of millions of citizens who exercised their democratic rights.

‘This list is not exhaustive – an election touches the lives of everyone in a nation. Their commitment to ensuring a fair and transparent election has been truly commendable,’ Moepya said.

He emphasised that the lists handover is a critical part of South Africa’s democratic processes.

‘We do so in keeping with an established practice in South Africa that after the
announcement by the Electoral Commission of the results of the National and Provincial Elections the Electoral Commission hands over the lists of members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures to the Chief Justice, who then hands them over to the Secretary to Parliament.

‘This momentous occasion signifies the culmination of a robust and transparent electoral process, a process that echoes the unified voice of our nation.

‘[Our] role as the Electoral Commission…is to ensure that South African voters exercise their rights to choose their leaders. We have carried out these responsibilities without fear, favour or prejudice. The lists that we present…reflect the choices of South Africans,’ Moepya said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Police Minister General Bheki Cele has handed over 130 cars to the Local Criminal Records Centre (LCRC) of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The vehicles are set to enhance and improve, among other functions, the response time to crime scenes by crime scene experts.

Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the Pretoria Police Academy, Cele said progress is being made in capacitating the police.

‘We are working very hard to capacitate the organisation,’ Cele said on Friday, adding that student police officers are part of the plan to the capacitate the force.

‘We had to go Parliament, to the Portfolio Committee to be given permission to purchase this equipment that is supposed to be used by the intelligence world. Our job is to prevent, combat and investigate.’

Cele said the vehicles will play a role in assisting the police in their investigations, linking suspects to crime scenes through evidence collection and analysis.

Some of the vehicles will be distributed to the provinces.

Last month the
Minister officiated at a ceremony where 78 vehicles were handed over to the Illicit Mining task teams also known as Operation Vala Umgodi.

Since inception in December 2023, Operation Vala Umgodi has resulted in the arrest of more than 6000 suspects including the seizure of uncut diamonds worth R32 million.

Public Order Policing Units received 52 minibuses. These units are key role players in responding to large gatherings and protests.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Water and Sanitation has announced the postponement of the emergency rehabilitation of parts of the Lower Sundays River Canal, which was planned to start from Monday, 10 June to 15 August 2024.

The department said the postponement of the project is due to the recent heavy rainfall that resulted in flooding in various areas of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), which may have compromised infrastructure, including water supply systems.

‘This is to afford the municipality time to complete its disaster assessment and response, as well as the resumption of the state of readiness for the project,’ the department said in a statement.

The Lower Sundays River Canal forms part of the Lower Sunday’s Government Water Scheme (LSGWS).

The LSGWS canal system supplies two main users with bulk water, including agricultural users, the Sundays River citrus producing area, and domestic users, Kirkwood, Uitenhage, Enon, and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro amongst others.

The LSGWS forms part of the great
er Orange-Fish-Sundays Inter Basin Transfer Scheme and it transfers 740 million kilolitres of water annually from the Gariep Dam to the Eastern Cape through the 80 km Orange-Fish Tunnel.

The repair of the canal is a result of a May 2017 incident, where a section of the canal embarkment slipped, about 4.4km south of Enon.

The department then had to construct a temporary embarkment using a plastic membrane to ensure the continuous supply of water to users. However, a secondary embankment failure has occurred, with 200m downstream of the initial embankment and canal failure.

The work on the canal includes demolishing the existing canal at the upstream and downstream tie-in sections, surface preparations, and the placement of a High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) liner over the upstream and downstream tie-ins.

The department emphasised that during the tie-ins construction, the canal will not be completely shut down, but there will be intervals at which, upon completion of certain segments that are being repaired
, water will be allowed to flow through to the dams for end users.

‘During this period, on average, the canal will be closed for seven to ten days for construction and be opened for seven days for the flow of water to fill up dams for the areas to be impacted by the temporary shutdowns. The major domestic users to be impacted by the canal supply interruptions will be the towns of Addo, Paterson and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.

‘However, measures are being put in place to ensure less interruptions to these areas. Kirkwood, which is located upstream of the shutdown point will continue to be supplied from the main canal. Addo and Paterson which are supplied from the Caesar’s Balancing Dam, downstream, which will be filled prior to canal shutdown, and continuously recharged during the seven days open flows,’ the department said.

The department also noted that balancing dams are designed to act as multipurpose reservoirs and are commonly used to serve as distribution points from where water is diverted into pi
pelines, canals, or to serve as pumping stations or store water for short period and immediate usage.

It said the seven days closure and opening interval of the canal was determined based on the storage capacity of these dams.

Considering the developments, the department said it will continue with its consultations on the new start date of the canal tie-in to bring all stakeholders on board to enable them to plan for this period and inform their customers.

‘The department continues to hold meetings with these stakeholders to discuss action plans to mitigate any possible challenges and bottlenecks when the planned dry period gets implemented. It is important to note that the emergency rehabilitation to be carried out is critical for the reliability and sustainability of supply to the users. If the damaged canal remains not repaired, the scheme stands a total collapse,’ the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured the people of Kariega in the Eastern Cape that government will step in to help them following devastating floods which have hit the region.

At least nine people have lost their lives in the Eastern Cape due to the floods. Thousands have been displaced, with infrastructure and housing damage estimated to have reached billions of rands.

Speaking in Kariega on Friday, President Ramaphosa told the community that they are not alone during this difficult time.

‘The storm has caused great damage in this place. Government must come and help and it will help. Government will come to help all of you. Within 30 days, we will have provided temporary housing for those who have lost their houses. In the meantime, we will have accommodation for those who have been displaced.

‘This is very painful and I am very sorry that we have this situation. But I want to [assure] that government will walk this road with you,’ he said.

Those who have lost loved ones will also receive help from
government.

‘The local government is here. The provincial government is here and all its departments as well as the national departments. The extent of the damage is huge.

‘It’s a disaster and we are going to deal with it as a disaster. The sad part is that there are people who have died. We, as government, are going to help those families where people have died and our social welfare department is going to support those families as much as we can and make sure that burials do happen.

‘There are people who are injured… who have had to go to hospital and we are going to make sure that they get good healthcare once they are in hospital.

‘Those people who have become displaced… we are going to make sure that they are put in a same place and moved from that safe place and put in temporary accommodation, which we are in the process of preparing and building,’ he said.

President Ramaphosa thanked churches and the Gift of the Givers who have stepped in to also lend a hand to those in need.

‘We are grateful tha
t we have our churches…that have come through and helped the people. We say thank you very much.

‘We also want to say thank to other people, like the Gift of the Givers… They are very good and they move very quickly when they are disasters. We thank you them for that… We are thankful to have an organisation like the Gift of the Givers,’ he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Minister Maropene Ramokgopa to act as the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture until a permanent appointment is made under the new seventh administration.

This comes after Zizi Kodwa’s resignation as Minister and member of Cabinet on Wednesday.

The Minister appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with allegations that he received about R1.7 million in bribes. Kodwa challenges charges against him, which he has denied.

‘President Ramaphosa accepted Minister Kodwa’s resignation and thanked Kodwa for his service to the nation in his capacity as Deputy Minister of State Security from 2019 to 2023 and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture from March 2023,’ the Presidency said on Friday.

Ramokgopa is also the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Source: South African Government News Agency