Firstly, I want to repeat that the question that was being asked related to management performance assessment tools specifically. That is the tool and the template we are using. We have developed it to assess the performance practices of departments with the intention of improving their capacity to respond to the challenges they are facing.
We have assessed 103 departments. That is not all of them - there are 158, both provincial and national. The results are out and they have gone through Cabinet. The results will be going out and we will meet the provinces that have participated in the exercise up to this point. So, that issue will be picked up. The process picks up management practices that are problematic and are not necessarily picked up by the Auditor-General or by other instruments.
As I said in my response, we are working jointly with the Auditor-General, the Public Service Commission, the Department of Public Service and Administration, and National Treasury. You need all those instruments resident in various institutions to come up with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by departments.
At a later stage in that process, as the system matures, we will be able to identify and pick up early warning signs of problem areas. For example, if somebody does a purchase today, you cannot expect the system to pick it up tomorrow. It's a system that we are going to utilise as we proceed. Treasury can pick up problems because they have a system that tracks expenditure in departments. We utilise the Treasury system, the Auditor- General system, as well as those of the Public Service Commission and the Department for Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs. In the next financial year, or towards the end of this year, we are beginning to move into local government specifically. This is because local government structures are different from provincial and national departments. They need their specific template to deal with the issues that are there. Once we have moved into that area, in a few years, we will be able to tell you at any given time what the state of affairs is, beyond the reports generated by other sources. We will be able to tell you what plans are in place to improve the situation.
We have graded departments into four categories. Category one, which is red, represents all those that are not compliant at all. In category two are the departments that are a little bit better in some respects but fall short in others. Then there is category three, up to category four. We do indicate what the issues are that we need to tackle. They are verified. We want proof or evidence to ensure that we write a report that is as accurate as possible. We involve the participants themselves. People are expected to be there and we moderate it externally.