IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA

(TRANSVAAL PROVINCIAL DIVISION)

In the matter between

TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN AND OTHERS	Applicants

and

MINISTER OF HEALTH AND OTHERS	Respondents

AFFIDAVIT: COLM ALLAN

I the undersigned

COLM ALLAN

hereby make oath and say:

1	I am the Director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), which is based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

2	The facts set out in this affidavit are, to the best of my knowledge, true and correct. Where I rely on information provided by others, I indicate this.

3	The PSAM was established in 1999. It is an independent research, monitoring and policy analysis unit. The PSAM has as its vision a South African public sector that delivers efficient, effective and economical public services.

4	The PSAM aims to promote accountability and efficiency in the management of public resources by amongst other things:

4.1	monitoring individual cases of public sector corruption and maladministration and disciplinary outcomes to these cases in terms of legislative provisions

4.2	monitoring a range of key performance indicators for government departments, including over- and under-expenditure, compliance with stated policy and strategic objectives, realization of service delivery undertakings, compliance with financial management and control procedures and fulfilment of reporting requirements.

4.3	evaluating the policy framework governing corruption, the accountability of public officials and the management of public resources.

5	I hold the following degrees:

5.1	BA in African Politics and Industrial Sociology from Rhodes University

5.2	MA in Philosophy and Social Theory, Warwick University, England

5.3	MPhil in Sociology, University of Ulster, North of Ireland.

6	I have been invited to sit on a number of provincial and national anti-corruption forums, and have participated in a range of national and international expert panels on combatting corruption. I have written a number of papers and reports on corruption-related issues ranging from the arms procurement deal to the theft of public resources in the Eastern Cape.

7	Prior to establishing the PSAM in 1999 I lectured in the Department of Sociology at Rhodes University for six years.

8	I have been informed that the Respondents in this case have submitted an affidavit by Dr Mjekevu, the head of the Department of Health in the Eastern Cape, with regard to that Department's work on combatting HIV/AIDS, and the resources available to it for this purpose. I have been asked to provide relevant information in this regard.

9	In this affidavit where I refer to 'the Department', I refer to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, unless the context indicates otherwise.

The context: HIV/AIDS in the Eastern Cape

10	The context of the Department's work on HIV/AIDS is that according to the Department, the Eastern Cape has 'one of the fastest HIV growth rates in the world'.

11	I attach marked CA1 an extract from Eastern Cape Epidemiological Notes October 2000, published by the Department, in which this statement is made.

12	According to the Department's Eastern Cape Epidemiological Notes April 2001, an extract from which is attached marked CA2, about 10 500 HIV positive children were born in this province in 2000.

13	That document estimates that by the end of 2000, more than half a million people in the Eastern Cape were living with AIDS.

Available funding

14	The budget allocation for the Department in the 2000/2001 financial year was R3.2 billion. Of this amount, R33m was directly allocated for HIV/AIDS projects.

15	In March 2000, the MEC for Health in the Eastern Cape (Dr Bevan Goqwana) announced that a sum of R33 million was available for dealing with HIV/AIDS, and a business plan for spending this money was 'ready to be rolled out from the 1st April this year'.

16	I attach marked CA3 an extract from Dr Goqwana's Policy Speech in which this is said.

17	The Report of the Auditor-General on the accounts of the Department for the 2000/2001 has recently been published. In that report (extracts of which are attached as CA4), the Auditor-General reports at paragraph 3.5 that:

'It was found that an amount of R33 585 277 earmarked for HIV/AIDS spending was transferred by the Department to the Fort Hare Foundation on 30 March 2001. No reasonable explanation could be given as to the purpose of the above mentioned action which appears to be irregular.

'While the amount was refunded by way of two payments during April 2001, no interest had been received.

'HIV/AIDS related projects are regarded as high priority spending by the department, the province and the country as a whole, yet the department failed to utilise the money. The amount unspent had not been "rolled forward" to the new financial year by National Treasury and was therefore lost to the province.'

18	What this means is that the limited money allocated by the Department for HIV/AIDS projects during the 2000/2001 year was not spent at all.

19	This failure to spend funds available on HIV/AIDS needs to be seen within the broader context of weak financial management within the Department.

20	For the past 5 years the financial statements of the Department have been issued with audit disclaimers by the Auditor-General. In other words the Auditor- General has withheld an audit opinion on the state of financial management within the Eastern Cape Department of Health since 1996 because so many transactions have been missing from these statements that no audit could be completed in the first place.

21	In the 1999/2000 financial year, it was reported that 240 employees within the Department of Health who had already reached retirement age as far back as 1978 were still on the payroll at a cost of R10.9 million per year (News24, 1/10/2001, CA5).

22	In my opinion, any claim by the Department that it can not afford to run a comprehensive programme to deal with HIV/AIDS must also be assessed in this light.

23	As of November 2001, the Department had reportedly still not provided the Eastern Cape Legislature Standing Committee on Health with an explanation for the unspent R33m allocated for HIV/AIDS projects in 2000/2001. It could also apparently not account for its plans to spend the additional amount allocated for HIV/AIDS programmes for 2001/2002 (Daily Dispatch, 1/11/2001, CA6).

COLM ALLAN

SIGNED AND SWORN TO BEFORE ME AT GRAHAMSTOWN ON NOVEMBER 2001, THE DEPONENT HAVING TAKEN THE OATH IN THE PRESCRIBED MANNER

COMMISSIONER OF OATHS