The KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has expressed satisfaction with the clean audits given to the province's municipalities by the Auditor-General amid a range of other improvements.
Today the Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, released the municipal audits for the 2012/13 financial year, in which he cited major positive trends by KwaZulu-Natal municipalities.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal, was showered with accolades by the AGSA for “tracking double digits in as far as clean audits is concerned”.
The following municipalities received clean audits:
- Uthungulu District
- Msinga
- Ntambanana
- Okhahlamba
- Ubuhlebezwe
- uMhlathuze
- uMzimkhulu
MUNICIPAL ENTITY
- Durban Marine Theme Park (Pty) Ltd
- Safe City Pietermaritzburg
- uThungulu House Development Trust
- uThungulu Financing Partnership
"We are excited to see seven of our municipalities receiving this coveted status as many others have seen their overall numbers of audit queries reduced," said KZN MEC for COGTA Nomusa Dube-Ncube whose department exercises general oversight over municipalities in the province.
KZN COGTA's ongoing support programmes which are tailor-made to the needs of individual municipalities have ensured that all municipalities in need of assistance from the provincial government are looked after by its team of dedicated experts in the field of municipal finance.
"Our work in the municipalities in bearing fruit but a lion's share of the credit for these seven clean audits must go to the municipalities themselves whose officials have worked hard to account for the public funds they administer for the benefit of their residents," said Dube-Ncube.
One area of concern related to unauthorised expenditure whose levels remain high in municipalities but KZN COGTA has cautioned against attempts to misrepresent this issue by individuals who may not understand what unauthorised expenditure means and entails.
"It is important to note that unauthorised expenditure in most instances refers to non-compliance with the letter of the Municipal Finance Management Act. It does not necessarily refer to corrupt practices or fraud as is often assumed in the media," said Dube-Ncube.
KZN COGTA takes a dim view of unauthorised expenditure but, at the same time, it feels that its occurrence should not be confused with fruitless and wasteful expenditure which constitutes a separate category of the Auditor-General's findings.
For more information contact:
KZN COGTA spokesperson, Lennox Mabaso
Cell: 082 884 2403
