ALBERTON – Speaking at a handover function hosted by the Office of the Auditor General (AG) in Pretoria this morning, an elated Gungubele thanked the political and administrative leaderships of the city for ensuring that “they conducted government business in line with the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act”.
“This is a mission of fulfillment. Let me express gratitude to the leadership of the Gauteng Province as well for having demonstrated true commitment to the audit imperatives of the Office of the Auditor General. Gratitude must also go to my predecessors for their role in ensuring that a solid foundation was laid towards the clean audit,” he continued.
Turning to the AG’s office, the mayor thanked the team for “their robust, frank and truthful attitude” in assisting the city in achieving its goal.
“When the late Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Mr Sicelo Shiceka launched Operation Clean Audit 2014, we knew that if we applied our minds as a team, the mission was possible. Prior to this great achievement we have gone four unqualified audits in a row, and this gave us hope that our ultimate objective would be achieved sooner than we thought,” he said after receiving the city’s award.
Ekurhuleni is only 14 years old. It was established after the amalgamation of 11 erstwhile administrations, which used to constitute the former East Rand. One of the most difficult attributes of the joint venture was the streamlining process of the various administration systems, while ensuring that there was no disruption to service delivery.
“Indeed that was achieved, albeit there were some difficulties due to the different systems that each of the towns employed before the merger. Fourteen years later, all the hard work has finally been rewarded,” Gungubele pointed out. “What this clean audit also means to us as a city is that we have put in place good systems and processes for handling public funds.”
The Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality stole the show when it scooped a total of six clean audits. Clean audits went to the Metro and five of the city’s entities: Brakpan Bus Company, Ekurhuleni Development Company, Lethabong Housing Institute, the Greater Germiston Phase Two Housing Company and Pharo Park Housing Company.
The only entity that could not pocket the same in the city was the East Rand Water Company, which was described by the Office of the AG as a “low hanging fruit” – a clear demonstration that a clean audit for them is also imminent.
“Now that we have achieved so much, the challenge is to sustain our achievement. We are committed to achieving this though,” Gungubele concluded
Eugene Zungu, National Leader of Audit Services, congratulated the municipalities that did well and encouraged those that are still struggling never to lose hope. He said systems and processes that have been in place to assist government institutions in achieving clean audits were beginning to show the required results.
