Local government employees are now officially at risk should they be found guilty of misappropriation of public funds.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed and supported the Public Audit Amendment Bill on Wednesday 21 November, which will give the Auditor General (AG) of South Africa, Kimi Makwetu, the necessary authority to refer any irregularities arising from an audit, to a relevant public body for investigation. The AG will then be able to issue a certificate of debt where an accounting officer or accounting authority failed to recover losses from a responsible person and to instruct the relevant executive authority to collect this debt, according to a parliamentary statement.
The Standing Committee on the AG emphasised that the process of developing regulations to give effect to the bill must be completed as soon as possible.
Nthabiseng Khunou, chairperson of the committee, said in a statement that they have advocated for strengthened and directly accountable consequences of management in the public service and that officials will be held liable for irregularities that arise.
“With this new law in place, we are hopeful that accounting officials will be held accountable for the misappropriation and expenditure of public funds,” said Khunou.
The AG reported in May of this year that audit outcomes across the country showed a significant negative decline in the 2016/2017 financial year.
In the 2015/2016 financial year there were 48 clean audits nationally, but it has dropped to 33 in the 2016/2017 financial year, according to the AG’s report. No municipality in Limpopo received a clean audit.
Bela-Bela received a qualified audit with findings, due to errors and irregular expenditures this year, where in the previous year Bela-Bela received an unqualified audit.
Three key positions in the municipality were filled in April. The new appointees are Sello Michael Makhubela (new Municipal Manager), Ramadiga Melvin Marutha (Chief Financial Officer) and Jamela Selapyane (Head of Corporate Services) in the hope of bringing the municipality back on track.
With the Audit Amendment Bill coming into effect, it will be business as usual for Bela-Bela municipality, since Bela-Bela is rated as “an above average municipality,” said Marutha to The Post.
He said the municipality does realise that there is a drop in payment for basic services especially during the festive period, which leaves a deficit in revenue collection. Thus strict credit control measures will be put in place.
“An early billing system will be implemented in December, to enable the council to cover operational costs. The billing will start on Tuesday 11 December and residents will be able to collect their municipal statements by Friday 14 December,” said Marutha.
Although the 50% discount scheme that the municipality offered to customers is no longer applicable and discontinued, cus-tomers can still be offered other incentives in terms of the credit control policy based on their account history, according to Marutha. He said that he has high hopes for a positive audit report from the AG in the near future.
