Ekurhuleni to tackle ‘fruitless’ expenditure

“Ekurhuleni is one of the 53 municipalities in the country that has shown consistent improvement in the audit outcomes,” said the auditor general, Thembekile Makwetu, recently.

Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs and human settlements, Paul Mashatile, attributed the success, recorded from the 2011/12 to 2014/15 financial years, to strong and capable institutions that are managed and governed efficiently.

“Ekurhuleni has been basking in the glory after achieving four successive unqualified reports, two clean audits as well as receiving a prime credit rating upgrade to Aaa.za on a national scale from the Moody’s rating agency,” said the metro’s spokesman, Themba Gadebe.

“However, the metro’s city manager, Khaya Ngema, said these achievements were not a point of arrival and that the city will pay special attention to wasteful expenditure.

“Ngema’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,” said Ngema.

“While we have made great gains in this area over the years, we are prepared to do more to change the status quo.”

Ngema explained that Ekurhuleni’s political and administrative departments will deal with the auditor general’s concerns which has been demonstrated when the city reduced wasteful expenditure from R20.8-million to R1.8-million in the 2013/14 financial year.

“The city has also reduced its irregular spending from R235-million to R68-million in the last financial year, reducing it by R187-million,” explained Gadebe.

“Ngema also explains that the dawn of a new era in the city’s finances can be attributed to 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, among other interventions.

“Also important is improved oversight, administratively through the finance department, together with legal, audit committee and risk committee.

“This also includes political oversight of mayoral committee, finance committee and MPAC, on behalf of council.”

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