The R29 million spend by municipalities across the North West province on consultants to assist them in preparing financial statements for audit is not commensurate with minimal improvement that they have registered during the 2011/12 financial audits, Premier Thandi Modise observed on Monday.
Although Premier Modise noted that all audits including prior year backlog have been cleared from the briefing on audit outcomes that she received from Liquath Ally, Business Executive of the Auditor General SA, the Premier shared the Auditor General’s concern that municipalities are not taking action against those responsible for poor performance and transgressions.
In commenting intervention and support to municipalities by Provincial Treasury and the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs that have resulted in 100% submission of financial statements for audit, the Premier added that skills transfer should take place to build capacity within municipalities whenever consultants are employed.
“Municipalities should crack the whip on non-performers because pervasive root causes for poor audit outcomes such as loss of documents and deviations from supply chain management processes are recurrent. It therefore cannot be business as usual. They need to take bold steps to fill critical vacancies and employ skilled and competent senior managers in to accelerate and deliver quality services to our people,” Modise emphasised.
According to the report, only five municipalities in the province received unqualified audit reports.
Meanwhile, the provincial government last week resolved to invoke Section 139(1) (b) interventions in Ditsobotla, Matlosana and Maquassi Hills as part of its local government turnaround strategy aimed at strengthening their administrative capacity improve their financial stability.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele, Spokesperson
Tel: 018 388 3705
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: LKgwele@gmail.com
