Councillor Farouk Bhayat, Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance, has expressed great excitement that the municipality got a clean audit for the 2014/ 15 financial year.
Speaking to Dikgang Tsa Mogale after addressing the 47th Special Council meeting, the elated Bhayat thanked the political and administrative leadership of the City for ensuring that “they conducted government business in line with the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act”.
The 47th Special Council meeting was held at the Council Chamber. This is the second year that Mogale City received a clean audit. Out of 12 municipalities in Gauteng, only four municipalities got clean audits, and Mogale City is the only municipality on the West Rand to receive a clean audit.
Councillor Bhayat said for the Office of the Auditor General (AG) to award a clean audit to an institution like MCLM in this regard, the AG expresses the opinion that the institution’s financial statements are “an accurate representation of the financial position and performance in accordance with the general recognised accounting practices”.
He said when the AG does the auditing, emphasis is put on among other areas, “the annual financial statements, predetermined objectives and most importantly whether the institution in review has complied with legislation”.
Nerosen Venketsamy, the senior manager in the Gauteng business unit within the Office of the AG applauded Mogale City on its attainment of a clean audit, especially for having sustained this status that also was attained in the 2013/ 2014 financial year.
Venketsamy referred to emphasis of matters to “significant uncertainties, restatement of corresponding figures, material losses – particularly water losses, and material impairments”. However, he cautioned that “these matters could impact negatively on the status of future audits if not addressed”.
Responding on Venketsamy’s concerns, Bhayat said, “We already have begun the process of addressing these matters. Regular meetings will be held during the remainder of the current financial year to address these concerns.
“It must be noted that in the case of ‘water losses’ the matters is more long-term oriented and cannot possibly be addressed in the short term. We however, are committed to bringing the percentage loss down gradually. We have strategies in place to achieve such reductions.
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