Chairperson
Members of the Executive Council (MECs)
National Auditor-General, Mr T Nombembe
Mayors and councillors
Senior public service officials
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We are pleased to welcome you to this auspicious occasion that will allow us as elected public representatives and senior public servants to share insight on the audit outcomes for the financial year 2008/09 with the express intention of enhancing good governance in the Northern Cape province. This session will afford municipalities in the Northern Cape the opportunity to receive feedback on their financial performance and compliance with audit requirements.
We are acutely aware that the duty of the Auditor-General is to audit the accounts of government at all levels and thus to provide oversight on the public finances. The Auditor-General also exists to strengthen our country’s democracy by enabling oversight, accountability and good governance in the public sector, thereby building public confidence in public institutions.
Furthermore the Auditor-General’s responsibility is to assist government to uphold, adhere to and comply with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and thereby provide improved service delivery for all communities in South Africa.
Distinguished guests, the municipal audit outcomes will give us an indication on how far we have come to implement Operation Clean Audit which is a government wide programme that seeks to improve accountability of government departments, including Provinces and Municipalities as a way to restore the confidence of the people of our country. It will look at how far we have been able to live up to the expectations of our people and identify the weaknesses that must be corrected in the shortest possible time.
All districts were visited to provide an analysis of some of the root causes for the audit opinions and what must be done to improve these, in terms of the action plan developed by individual municipalities. Support was given to deal with the generic root causes in many areas, for example the question of supporting documentation.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the 8 January statement 2010 we stated that we need to change the way how government relates to our people in the delivery of services. It further stated that we were committed to a service delivery ethic that would put every elected official and public servant to work for and with our people, and ensuring accountability to the South African public at large.
It also indicated that to meet our service delivery objectives, we need a new type of public sector cadre, who would have a caring attitude in dealing with citizens. We can have as many wonderful policies as we can, but if ordinary people do not feel their impact, and if they feel ignored and shut out, the policies are as good as non-existent.
President Jacob Zuma recently indicated that “there must be no social distance between the people and their government, and the people must not be ignored.”
Many communities have seen changes in their lives since the elections, but others would point to weaknesses that need to be corrected. We should identify the weaknesses and work out measures and rectifying them for the benefit of our people.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have also launched the local government turnaround strategy which seeks to rebuild and improve the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, accountable, efficient, developmental local government system. The strategy will further ensure that municipalities meet the basic needs of communities and strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society.
Strengthening our systems of accountability and building clean government is another important pillar of cooperative governance. Public representatives and councillors, in particular, need to be more accountable to communities; hence we are proposing new and improved measures in this regard.
In particular, we will strengthen the capability of communities to exercise oversight over councillors and municipalities. Performance management systems of municipalities and those of councillors and officials will all need to be aligned. Our goal, as government, of strengthening accountability and building clean government also relates to how the spheres interact with each other, both politically and professionally.
Finally, we expect that from now onwards managers will manage municipalities efficiently and effectively in order to improve service delivery to the vast majority of ordinary South Africans. We will no longer tolerate lazy and incompetent Managers and Councillors.
We have entered a period where we say that we will not renege on the promise that we have made to deliver sustainable services that will forever alter the quality of life of ordinary South Africans. We have no choice but to get rid of people who are not willing to put their shoulder to the wheel and work in the very best interest of the communities they serve.
2010 is the year for action and we must all be ready to work harder, smarter and faster.
I thank you
Baie dankie
Ke a leboga
Ndiyabulela
Issued by: Northern Cape Provincial Government
11 March 2010
