MEC Ngomane disappointed on municipal audit outcomes
This follows the release of the consolidated general report on the local government audit outcomes on June 26 by the Auditor General of South Africa, Kimi Makwetu.
The MEC for finance, economic development and tourism, Pat Ngomane, has expressed his disappointment on the recent municipal audit outcomes for the province.
“After the encouraging results of 2016 during which Mpumalanga showed the most improvement among the provinces on municipal audit, the latest report for the 2017/18 financial year points to an unfortunate setback for our efforts. We will, however, be relentless in our pursuit to assist municipalities to improve accountability and reporting during the upcoming audit process.
We will engage with all relevant role players at all levels of the provincial government system to get to the bottom of persistent challenges of non-compliance with the laws of our country and identify gaps in the control environment,” said Ngomane.
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Since April the provincial treasury has dispatched multidisciplinary teams to assist municipalities in addressing issues raised by the Auditor General regarding each municipality.
Ngomane has reiterated that the management of each municipality must take responsibility for the audit outcomes and display a sufficient level of ethics and accountability akin to the position of responsibility bestowed to them.
“Ensuring that municipalities are effectively managed and that resources are not misused or misappropriated, is a task that cannot be taken lightly more so in a tough economic situation as this and where our people long for quality services,” he said. The provincial treasury has commenced the process to respond to the audit findings. Ngomane is also expected to announce a set of measures that the department will implement to further support targeted municipalities this year.
