The National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF) has disputed as a misrepresentation of fact the statement made by the Director-General of Arts and Culture in parliament on 9 March 2006 which says, “the Auditor-General identified some irregularities in the institution’s books”.
The opinion of the Auditor-General as stated in the NFVF Annual Report 2005 is as follows: “… in my opinion, the financial statements fairly present, in all material respects, the financial position of the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa at 31 March 2005 and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with South African Statements of Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and in the manner required by the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No.1 of 1999)”.
The issue highlighted by the DG relates to the matters raised by the Auditor-General under the heading, “Matters of emphasis” which is not related to financial management issues but rather compliance issues. The DG raised these issues as matters of concern to him and requested the audit committee to assure him that these matters are dealt with. The Audit Committee of the NFVF has since dealt with the issues and reported back to the DG, who has confirmed his satisfaction in writing.
The NFVF is not aware of an amount of R12m that has been committed nor is it aware that the department is withholding this amount. In anticipation of the lapse of the feature film fund, the NFVF presented its plans to the DAC in 2004 and again in March 2005, as indicated in the Annual Report (page 8), nothing has been forthcoming from the DAC. Failure to get a response to numerous communications to the Department on the NFVF programmes and budget, the NFVF in November 2005 requested for the Portfolio Committee’s intervention.
The NFVF is disturbed by the inaccurate information supplied by the DG to the public through parliament. The council of the NFVF still awaits a date for the meeting between the DAC and the NFVF as promised by the Portfolio Committee. The statements by the DG makes the NFVF’s request for intervention in November 2055 all the more urgent.
