All municipalities in the North West province managed to meet the deadline for submission of Annual Financial Statements, including outstanding ones.
This announcement was made by Acting MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Paul Sebegoe during the tabling the 2013/14 Departmental Budget Vote at the Provincial Legislature yesterday.
MEC Sebegoe said that he was especially pleased by the fact that municipalities have shown impeccable recovery from the state of non-submission of Annual Financial Statements (AFS) to that of all 24 municipalities in the Province submitting their AFS on time.
He said that the department’s next biggest challenge was not only to maintain the status quo but also to improve on the quality of AFS that get submitted for audit purposes in order to achieving Clean Audit by 2014.
“The road to achieving clean audits by 2014 is not an easy one, but we are hopeful that with the joint interventions by the Departments of Local Government and Traditional Affairs and Finance, we would be able to meet the deadline. These interventions would include ensuring the functionality of Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPACs), measures put in place to rehabilitate revenue enhancement projects in municipalities and also elevating the impact of public participation in our wards. To strengthen accountability we have forged a close working relationship with the Office of the Auditor-General and this has already started to yield positive results,” he said.
In his speech, MEC Sebegoe expressed his appreciation to municipalities for their total commitment in ensuring that this initiative will reap the desired rewards. He said that the provincial government departments, public entities and municipalities have signed a pledge to renew their commitment to Clean Audit 2014.
“We will continue to strengthen the Municipal Public Accounts Committees and Municipal Performance Audit System as well as support municipalities to strengthen their performance management system as a contribution towards Operation Clean Audit 2014 flagship programme,” he said.
