DSD REELS IN ANOTHER AWARED
It’s becoming the norm for the Department of Social Development to become recipients’ and winners of National Government Performance Awards. Our latest accolade in our trophy cabinet , which is surely becoming too small , is the SAIGA Annual Public Sector Reporting Award. SAIGA is the South African Institution of Government Auditors.
The award we received is based on the pursuit for excellence in Departmental Annual Reports and is a significant initiative and must be seen against the background of the promulgation of the Public Finance Management Act and related legislation such as the Treasury Regulation.
The Annual Report of 2011 / 2012 of the Department of Social Development was a adjudicated as the winner in the category for Departments in the Northern Cape and 8th in the country. The Award Panel and the Technical Award Committee is constituted from SAIGA office bearers , experts in the field of public sector reporting , representatives of the Office of the Accountant-General and the Auditor-General. The fact that the Awards are managed and administered by an independent Institute which has been active in the public arena for the last 15 years adds the much desired elements of independence and credibility to the Award. The Quality Assurance relating to the technical analysis and evaluation is done by the Department of Auditing , University of Pretoria.
The trophy which we received is in the form of a glass pyramid . This shape (pyramid) symbolises the departments’ (upward) pursuit for excellence. The Pyramid also encloses the concept of three points , drawing a parallel to the so-called 3 Es , efficiency , effectiveness and economy. The glass represents transparency . The overlaying pyramids of glass indicate that more than one report is produced to make up the financial statements.
The SAIGA Award follows shortly after our department received 7 consecutive unqualified audit opinions and in the 2012/13 financial year we made the giant step to receive an unqualified audit opinion with no findings. This award was preceded the Auditor General’s country’s Best Performing Department Award for the 2012/2013 financial year. Equally so, the Balelapa household profiling has received the 1st runner-up award for the Most innovative service delivery instrument by government.
