The KwaZulu-Natal province yesterday took a pioneering bold step of promising to immediately begin a process that will lead to zero audit qualifications in government departments and municipalities come 2014.
The initiative, unveiled in the form of a launch that took place in Pietermaritzburg, is dubbed Operation Clean Audit 2014, and it effectively forces municipalities and government departments to implement the well thought-out and clear plan on how they will achieve the ultimate plan of misusing the taxpayer’s money.
In a joint exercise yesterday, all 14 provincial departments and the 61 municipalities in the province, signed a pledge to commit to a set of targets that have to be achieved starting as soon as next year through to 2014.
However, Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube, whose department is tasked with leading the programme over the next four years, said it was possible to achieve this goal even a year earlier.
“At present, 23 municipalities received qualifications including disclaimers out of the total 61 provinces in the province,” Dube said. (A qualification indicates that something was not done according to sound financial management principles in terms of using taxpayer’s money. A disclaimer means that the Auditor General cannot even make an opinion because no information is available to explain how and why certain decisions were taken.)
“This is very serious and indicates that we really need a commitment as the one being unveiled today. In terms of this launch, we are practically promising the nation that starting in 2010, the public will begin to judge us on whether we are really on the track that we say we are taking today,” she said.
In addition, MEC for Finance Ina Cronje emphasised that municipal officials and the political leadership will have to ensure that they study the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and all other legislation governing municipal governance and municipal finance. “Because some of the queries are based on our failure to understand what needs to be done in terms of the law,” Ms Cronje said.
According to work plan on Operation Clean Audit, the achievable milestones (goals) in terms of the four-year programme were unveiled as follows:
* Between 2010 and 2011, no municipality and provincial department should have qualifications or disclaimers in terms of audit opinions
* At least 37 of the 61 municipalities and nine provincial departments achieving unqualified (clean) audit opinions by 2012
* At least 46 of the 61 municipalities and 11 departments achieving unqualified audits by 2013
* All municipalities and departments achieving unqualified opinions by 2014
* Municipalities will now have to produce quarterly financial reports as opposed to doing this only annually.
In terms of Section 131 of the MFMA, the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the province, Ms Nomusa Dube, will have to monitor if actions are being implemented to achieve these targets. She will then provide a report to the Provincial Executive in terms of Section the Municipal Finance Management Act.
In evaluating progress, Ms Dube will use an annual independent monitoring and evaluation reports as well as Reports that have to be made to the AG on an ongoing basis throughout each year.
Importantly, Local Government and Traditional Affairs, in partnership with the Provincial Treasury department, will assist with capacity building and funding to provide a boost where necessary.
The Provincial Executive is on the point of defining clear key performance indicators for senior municipal management and senior officials in the province’s government departments.
While this exercise is led by the local government department (as its mandate is to coordinate the performance of municipalities in particular in terms of service delivery), it will, however, involve all government departments and municipalities as a collective in terms of them committing to the targets that have been agreed upon.
Enquiries:
Vernon Mchunu
Cell: 082 474 1882
Issued by: Department of Finance, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
10 November 2009
