Mhlongo plans clean audit for municipality

Mhlongo proposed a change in the way financial statements were submitted at a recent council sitting held at the Giyani Community Hall, citing a lack of time to review and remedy inaccuracies properly. “At our first two meetings on August 25 and 29, we reviewed the AFS’s (Audit Financial Statements) and the APR’s (Annual Performance Reports) as part of preparing them for approval,” he explained. While reviewing the statements, the committee realised that the process of review was too close to the deadline of August 31.

According to him, the financial statements needed to be reviewed first by the internal audit, the Limpopo Provincial Treasury, and CoGHSTA before they were finally reviewed by the committee. “If you look at the time that was left to complete that process, you will realise that it was very tight. “I’m not saying that the AFS and APR statements that were submitted were of poor quality, but perhaps if we had done it much earlier, we could have submitted even better-quality statements,” he said.

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He urged the municipality to change its system and ensure that the financial statements were submitted at least two weeks before the deadline to allow them time to review the statements properly. “We must understand that the only way to achieve a clean audit is to ensure that we submit statements that are free of errors. To be able to do that, we need to ensure that the reviews are properly done in advance to allow time to correct mistakes, if any,” he said.

Mhlongo also raised concerns about the municipality’s operational and capital expenditures, saying the municipality was sitting at 68% and 84%, respectively, a sign that showed that the municipality was lagging. “If we’re underspending on operational expenditure, it means somewhere there are things that we’re failing to properly deliver,” he said. He also encouraged the municipality to devise a method for recovering its unpaid bills. “We realised that the municipality is sitting with debts from the government departments amounting to R128 million and also R48 million from businesses.

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“Our suggestion as a committee is that the municipality should formulate a payment plan with those that owe it to ensure that that money is collected to be used elsewhere,” he said. Mhlongo’s remarks were welcomed by the secretary of the ANC Youth League in Giyani, Tiyani Rabuthatha. “I have never heard such an honest presentation in this council, and I believe the municipality stands to benefit a lot with him as chairperson,” he remarked. He was also supported by a few ANC councillors who agreed with him.