Programme director,
Good evening.
It is my honour and privilege to be invited to SizweNtsalubaGobodo auditing, accounting and forensics services firm’s regional launch. Your arrival in the Limpopo province is quite timely because virtually everyone in the public service is under some form of investigation. I hope that my presence here today will not make you lose future business opportunity because of possible future conflict of interest.
Upon receipt of your invitation, I pondered for a while and receded into a wilderness of thoughts. As I traversed in this meandering road, I kept on asking myself many questions without corresponding answers. One question that kept on creeping was “why me”. Why me because I am hardly three months in this new responsibility? Why me for my footprints have hardly dried up to be noticed in the public service? I hope that one day I will be privileged with an answer.
Welcome to the province of Limpopo, the province which is known for peace, stability, hospitality, warmth and humility that characterise its people. The province of heroes and heroines of our struggle like King Sekhukune, Makhado, Ngungunyane, Charlote Mannye Maxege, Lawrence Phokanoka, President Safako Mapogo Makgato and many more. A province that is comprised of people who are patient to the core.
In the recent past, however, we have come to be known as a province that has little regard for compliance with rules and regulations. We are characterised as a haven for corruption and all worst forms of governance, at the slightest provocation ready to abuse power for narrow selfish interests. In the words of those who are exclusively endowed with wisdom and foresight, the leadership of the province is a pack of dogs leading this onslaught. In their wisdom we are a living example of what a prolific Kenyan writer and journalist, John Githongo titled “It is Our Turn to Eat”.
I must not hesitate to tell you that I vehemently disagree with all these unfounded, wild and unsubstantiated allegations. We have long invited and still do by this minute, anyone with information of corruption, to report such to the relevant law enforcement agencies. We scorn corruption and any form of illegal activity. In the same breath, I want to admit that, like any other Provincial Government, we have our own teething governance challenges and are continuously resolving them. Limpopo Provincial Government, like any other Provincial Government is governed by the same constitution and all other rules and regulations applicable in the Republic of South Africa. All these are applied and enforced the similarly in this province.
I take this opportunity to invite SizweNtsalubaGobodo to partner with Government to deliver on its core mandate, which is to provide quality services, improve the lives of our people and eradicate poverty, unemployment and inequality. I want to say to you, in the Provincial Government of Limpopo, you have a partner that knows the important role you play in the public sector.
Ladies and gentlemen, the one area that requires our immediate and urgent attention is our municipalities. If you consider where we come from as a country, when resources and services were distributed according to colour, the legacy of which is still vividly visible today, much has been done since the days of Transitional Local Government. We have set up structures and systems in place with a reliable legislative framework of local government. However, we are the first ones to concede that much more still needs to be done.
In 2009, we gathered at Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg in the province of Gauteng. As we emerged out of that gathering, we committed ourselves and made a solemn promise to our people that no single public institution including our municipalities, will receive either a disclaimer or adverse audit opinion by 2010/11 financial year. There are two municipalities in the province which have received clean audit outcomes in the 10/11 financial year. These municipalities are Fetakgomo Local and Waterberg District.
The simple plausible explanation why these municipalities have distinguished themselves against the rest does not require rocket science. These municipalities are led by dedicated leadership at both political and administrative level supported by a committed staff.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to go against my own culture for in my own culture you are forbidden to blow your own trumpet. My department is also the only Human Settlements department in the Republic of South Africa, to have received a clean audit to date. Let me now share with you the secret. Unlike with these two municipalities, the reason my department received a clean audit in the financial year 10/11 was because Gobodo helped us clean our Housing Fund and prepared us for Performance Information Auditing. Could it be the reason I am addressing this important people today?
Admittedly ladies and gentlemen, I am not proud to report to you that we have fallen short of our solemn promise. The major weaknesses, inefficiencies and challenges in our municipalities are as a result of lack of oversight and monitoring and lack of appropriate skills especially in finance and technical areas, weak internal controls, non-adherence to rules and regulations, non-existence of risk management plans and strategies, unreliable asset registers, to state but a few. I cannot afford to fall short again as Operation Clean Audit is only two financial years away.
The auditing and accounting profession does not keep pace with the demand of these skills in the country. As I speak to you now, I have nine vacancies of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) in my municipalities which are difficult to fill. Typical example is Sekhukhune District municipality which has advertised the post of CFO three times already without success. I am certain that the problem is not the salary scale. I hope that my sincere invitation to SizweNtsabulaGobodo has been accepted in this regard. Your presence in the province will go a long way in responding to all these challenges we face as a province.
An effective public sector audit activity strengthens governance by materially increasing citizen’s ability to hold us accountable. You perform an important function in those aspects of governance that are crucial in public sector for promoting credibility, equity and appropriate behaviour of government officials, while reducing the risk of public corruption. In this regard we therefore, undertake to give you a broad mandate and scope to execute your mandate with integrity.
We shall afford you organisational independence which allows audit activity to conduct work without interference by the entity under audit. The audit activity should have sufficient independence from those it is required to audit so that it can both conduct its work without interference and be able to do so. This will contribute to accuracy of auditors work and the ability to rely on the results and report.
You continually provide insight to assist decision makers by assessing which programs and policies are working and which are not, sharing best practices and benchmarking information and looking across Government horizontally and vertically to find opportunities to borrow, adapt or re-engineer management practices. This helps to institutionalise organisational learning by providing ongoing feedback to adjust policies. Hence focusing on insight, contributes importantly to answering the broader question, “Has the policy brought about the intended results?” Concurrently with accountability function, audits contribute to improving the operations of Government.
As you partner with government, I expect you to identify trends and emerging challenges before they become crisis. You should highlight challenges to come such as from demographics trends, economic conditions or changing security threats and identify risks and opportunities arising from rapidly evolving science and technology, the complexities of modern society and changes in the nature of the economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, you will agree that in many of your assignments as auditors you seldom apply yourselves to these strategic issues. If you do, keep up the good work. Yet these issues often represent long term risks that may far exceed the term of office of elected public representatives and on many occasions, receive low priority for attention where scarce resources drive more short-term focus on urgent concerns. Audit focusing on foresight helps answer the question, “What policy revision or implementation would meet a future need or risk?”
When you focus on trends and look forward, it helps to support decision making. You also play a key role in helping managers understand and initiate risk assessments. Through all these roles you protect core government values. By providing oversight, insight and foresight services, you help ensure that managers and officials conduct the public’s business transparently, fairly and honestly with equity and probity, while conducting your own work using the highest standards of integrity.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the preceding paragraph, I referred to abuse of power as some of the allegations being whipped at us. Auditors should not only assess the potential abuse of power, in whatever form, but should also be cognisant of their power within institutions they audit. You are expected to report corruption and abuse of authority without any fear or favour. In the same breath, you must not abuse your own power. Due to the unique role you play during audit, you could also be susceptible to abuse of power as well. Therefore, your own work must reflect the same principles of transparency, equity, and probity as expected from government. This means writing accurate and balanced reports.
I have no doubt that SizweNtsalubaGobodo has competent leadership and staff so that when posted at relevant assignment will be able to conduct a full range of audit, advisory and forensics services as required by mandate guided by recognised high standards and procedures.
We are looking forward to growth into leaps and bounds in the province. Steve Job said “innovation distinguishes a leader and a follower”. I have no doubt that you shall lead in this sector. Welcome to Limpopo.
I thank you.
