The executive mayor, Clr Mzwandile Masina, has welcomed the Auditor General’s (AG) 2017/2018 financial year audit, which gave the city an unqualified audit opinion. The City of Ekurhuleni’s audit committee tabled the AG’s report during the first council meeting on Thursday.
The AG found an improvement in the overall outcome of performance reporting. The City received a clean audit on performance information and no audit findings were reported. In addition to this, the following improvements were noted:
1. The City did not incur fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure in the 2017/18 financial year.
2. No audit findings on the incorrect application of SCM regulation 36, all deviations approved were in line with SCM regulation 36.
3. A decrease of R198-million (42 per cent) in irregular expenditure from R472.6-m to R274.5-m.
4. The overall financial viability assessed as good, no long-term borrowings for financing day to day operations of the city.
“We have continued to display our commitment to good governance and accountability following the AG’s 2016/2017 financial year audit. Our ability to decrease irregular expenditure by 42 per cent allows us to further service our impoverished communities and amplify our service delivery in line with our pro-poor government stance,” said Masina.
“We will continue to cut irregular expenditure and maintain a zero-tolerance approach to fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure. Good governance allows the City to attract much-needed investment, which will allow us to grow economic activity in the City of Ekurhuleni.”
The audit committee is satisfied with the great improvement of the City’s performance and acknowledged the achievement of a clean audit opinion for the 2017/18 financial year on the performance information.
Concerns over the lack of improvement in the quality of the annual financial statements submitted and poor document management processes in finance were highlighted on the report.
“We committed to implementing the AG’s recommendations expeditiously. The City remains committed to transparency, accountability and clean governance. The citizens of Ekurhuleni remain at the centre of our efforts as an administrator. Our fiscal management must be dedicated to producing the maximum output of quality service delivery to our people,” said Masina.
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
Get regular news updates sent directly to your inbox: Newsletter-Signup
