The Office of the Auditor-General has, once again, given KZN Treasury a clean bill of health, awarding it its seventh clean audit report for the 2015/16 financial year.
Reacting to the news, MEC for Finance in KwaZulu-Natal, Belinda Scott, said this achievement is made possible by strong and efficient leadership at strategic levels within the department, good decision-making, adherence to good governance principles and a continuous desire to live up to the department's vision of being a centre of excellence in financial and fiscal resource management in the country.
"We ensure compliance with policies and regulations, and their application across the board becomes our culture when it comes to management of public finances at Treasury. I am grateful to lead a disciplined and dedicated team of technocrats who want to be exemplary in how public finances are managed. In KwaZulu-Natal, we will continue to strive for all departments, public entities and municipalities to achieve clean audit reports," said Scott.
Head of Department, Simiso Magagula, said they have key account indicators that are monitored monthly.
"Financial year-end projections are generated monthly and checked to avoid surprises at year-end. Interim financial statements are done to give the financial status of key accounts every three months. In general, for us, it is about continuous improvement in the manner in which we manage finances in the department and next year, we expected no different," he said.
The clean audit report is a culmination of hard work that the department embarked upon despite the subdued global, national and provincial economic climate which has been in place since 2007.
In 2009, the Province was in overdraft by almost R3 billion and paying no less than R200 million in interest, as a result of the provincial overspending of annual budgets. Fiscal austerity measures were introduced in the same year to turn around the financial position. The measures have become "a way of life" and the measures are updated and re-issued to departments each year. The measures were part of turn-around strategy and were fully supported by the KZN Cabinet. These cost-cutting measures are simply seen as elements of good governance and helped to eradicate wastage and unnecessary spending on items that add no or very little value to the Province’s service delivery spending. Provincial Treasury is mindful of the fact that every cent spent should be toward the betterment of the lives of our people.
"The secret to providing better services to communities is through efficient budgeting and strategic forecasting. The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government remains steadfast in ensuring that all departments adhere to all financial management regulations in order to guarantee targeted service delivery and economic growth as recommended in the National Development Plan," concluded Magagula.
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Musa Cebisa
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Sibonelo Msomi
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