Moody’s: Ekurhuleni has ‘extremely strong’ financial capacity
According to Auditor General Thembekile Makwetu, Ekurhuleni is one of the 53 municipalities in the country that has shown consistent improvement in the audit outcomes.
Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements, Paul Mashatile, attributed the success – recorded from the 2011/12 financial year to the 2014/2015 financial year – to strong and capable institutions that are managed and governed efficiently.
However, the city manager, Khaya Ngwenya, said these achievements were not a point of arrival and that the city will pay special attention to wasteful expenditure. Ngwenya’s commitment reflects the concern of the Auditor-General, who noted an increase in the irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“Now that we have achieved the clean audit status, we are concerned about the issue of wasteful and fruitless spending. While we have made great gains in this area over the years, we are prepared to do more to change the status quo,” Ngema said.
Ngema explained that Ekurhuleni’s political and administrative will to deal with Auditor-General’s concerns were demonstrated when the city reduced wasteful expenditure from R20.8-million in the 2013/14 financial year to R1.8-m in the last financial year.
The city has also reduced its irregular spending from R235-m to R68-m in the last financial year, reducing it by R187-m.
Ngema explained that the dawn of a new era in the metro’s finances can be attributed to, among other interventions, improved quality of management in the different departments of the metro, not just on governance and risk, but, more crucially, in operations and project management.
“Also important is improved oversight, administratively through the Finance Department, together with Legal, Audit, Risk, Audit Committee and Risk Committee.
“This also includes political oversight of Mayoral Committee, Finance Committee and MPAC, on behalf of council.”
