Since coming into office in August 2016, District Executive Mayor, Cllr Muzi Chirwa has been strong in his remarks about running an efficient, legislative compliant
institution whose financials and performance is free from material misstatements and material findings.
It was therefore very pleasing to receive the long-awaited news of a clean audit opinion by AG for the 2017/18 Financial Year.The last time GSDM received a clean audit was in 2011.
During his first address when he was being sworn into office, Chirwa encouraged the political and administrative leadership to be conscious of the goal to achieve and maintain a clean audit. Three months into office, Chirwa received a qualified audit which was a regress from a previous report from the Auditor General (AG) for the 2015/16 Financial Year. This was due to very minor issues which were soon remedied and an unqualified audit report for 2016/17 was received. During the 2017/18 Financial Year, the institution ensured that all challenges influencing financials and the management thereof, were addressed.
One of them was the non-filling of critical positions. In this regard, the positions for General Manager for Planning and Economic Development, General Manager: Corporate Services, General Manager for Community and Social Services were filled. Oversight on the finances of the institution by the Audit Committee and the Municipal Public Accounts Committee was business unusual.
The management established weekly meetings which paid special focus to the audit action plan, a document based on the findings by the AG for the previous financial year. The GSDM leadership avoided by all means, occurrences of fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Cost curtailment measures were tightened.
The goal to achieve a clean audit was one which was shared with the Local Municipalities. It is the vision of the current political and administrative leadership to reach a point where all municipalities in the Gert Sibande District will improve on financial and performance management and ultimately, on the audit opinion by the AG. GSDM, on its role to coordinate and support local municipalities, made strides to assist the local municipalities improve their financial management and financial viability.
The District Municipality employed Senior Managers which were deployed in the municipalities to assist in the finance departments. Dipaleseng, Mkhondo and Msukaligwa were the municipalities to first receive this service from the District after signing a memorandum of understanding in July 2018. It must be noted that local municipalities face numerous challenges which pose threat to municipal financial viability and stability, for instance, ageing infrastructure, Eskom debt, low revenue collection, violent protests which costs more than the municipal budget can afford and more often than not, sets back planned development.
During his remarks on the last meeting of Council held on 6 December 2018, Executive Mayor Chirwa again reiterated that although the institution had reached its goal, the biggest challenge was to maintain the standard and avoid a regress. Council applauded GSDM for the Clean Audit Opinion.
