Makhubo discusses the anticipated Covid-19 procurement Internal Audit Report

The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Geoffrey Makhubo has on 8 October reiterated his and the Mayoral Committee’s commitment to share the outcome of the internal audit report on Covid-19 procurement as soon as it is made available.

The mayor welcomed the decision by the City of Johannesburg to call for a date on which the matter pertaining to the Covid-19 Internal Audit Report would be tabled and considered.

“As we stated before, the Mayoral Committee has received a presentation on the draft report and has given the administration a deadline of Thursday 8 October, to respond to the issues raised and for the internal audit to resubmit a final report,” said Makhubo in a statement.

This is in terms of the Internal Audit Standards which require that those implicated in preliminary findings be afforded an opportunity to respond to the findings before an outcome is made and released. Makhubo reaffirmed that the intention of the executive was to provide a copy of the internal audit final report to the City accompanied with a plan of action on its recommendations once finalised.

He emphasised a commitment made last week to keep the people of the city informed. “We will deal with the matters arising from the report swiftly and decisively,” he said. “We are a transparent government and we seek to demonstrate this through action on our commitment to good governance and practice. We have stated previously and wish to reiterate it once more that the Government of Local Unity is intolerant to corruption and malfeasance.”

Makhubo said where there was evidence of wrongdoing, they would act and do so relentlessly. “We will display a shift from what the Auditor-General termed a ‘lack of consequence management’ by the previous administration, the fraud and corruption that is alleged in the procurement of PPEs must be vigorously condemned and our actions will be without fear or favour to those fingered,” he concluded.