Mayor Vincent Madlala conveyed his heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to the employees of Emnambithi/Ladysmith Municipality at a Mayoral Excellence Awards function on Thursday.
Mayor Madlala proudly announced that the municipality had received a clean audit report for the 2013/2014 financial year, as per the Auditor-General. In his speech, he recalled the promise he made last year to council concerning his goal of aiming for a clean audit.
“Last year, I presented to council my goals for a clean audit for the 2013/2014 financial year.
“I stated the fundamental key areas that we needed to pay close attention to.”
The three fundamental areas that needed close attention, as highlighted by the mayor, were: firstly, leadership, which is expected to set the correct tone for effective governance; secondly, financial and performance management reports, which need to be subjected to management checks and balances to confirm credibility of information; and thirdly, governance, by strengthening audit committees and internal audit functions that will complement the work of the newly-established municipal public accounts committees (MPACs).
Emnambithi/Ladysmith Municipality is one of 20 municipalities in KZN who received a clean audit. An unqualified opinion with no findings (clean audit) means the auditee (municipality) was able to:
– Produce financial statements free of material misstatements.
– Report in a useful and reliable manner on performance as measured against predetermined objectives in the annual performance plan.
– Comply with key legislation.
The local municipality achieved all of the above and proved that the finances of the 2013/2014 financial year were handled appropriately to ensure that service delivery is the prime focus.
