The Tshwane finance MMC has lauded the metro’s 2023/24 financial statements for notable progress.
Jacqui Uys lauded the progress as Tshwane made a significant improvement in its audit outcome, moving from an adverse finding in 2022 to a qualified finding opinion in 2023.
In the 2023/2024 financial year that ended on June 30, the unaudited financial statements show a significant improvement, according to Uys.
The qualified opinion means that this auditee’s financial statements contained material misstatements that were not corrected before the financial statements were published.
It further means that the auditee also had challenges with the quality of performance reports and/or compliance with key legislation.
Uys said Tshwane is pleased to have complied with the legislated timelines and its financial statements are now available for public viewing.
“The National Treasury has published the unaudited financial statements for all municipalities that submitted their statements on time to the Auditor-General (AG).”
Uys said a net surplus of R2.5-billion was realised in the 2023/24 financial year. This is a R1.4-billion increase from the previous financial year.
“While not a cash surplus, it is still significant proof of a positive improvement in the management of public funds due to savings in contracted services and general expenses and an increase in revenue.”
Uys said the metro has been showing improvement in its ability to bill customers for rates, taxes and services and, as such, the city saw a 10.3% increase in revenue to R46.4-billion.
“From the onset, the multiparty coalition committed to the value-for-money principle and reducing our reliance on contracted services.”
Uys added that in the report for the year in question, the city realised a reduction of R500-million in contracting services, proving that “we are on track to realise this commitment”.
“The current ratio, which indicates the capability of the municipality to meet its short-term obligations that are due within a year, showed a significant improvement from 0.41 to 0.57. This puts the city on a path to financial stability if this trajectory is maintained in the coming years.”
Uys said while other areas such as reducing non-revenue water and electricity losses saw only a slight improvement, there is a concerted effort to reduce this in the current financial year.
She said the metro aims to purge corruption.
“Our priority to root out corruption in the Supply Chain Management Division has seen the introduction of checks and balances, resulting in an increase in declared irregular expenditure.”
Uys added that this has allowed for forensic investigations to be completed and culprits to be prosecuted.
“This pre-emptive measure to prevent and act on corruption has led to an increase of R2.4-billion in declared irregular expenditure, which needs to follow our Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) processes and be dealt with by Council during this current financial year.”
Uys said the metro commits itself to fully co-operate with the AG during the ongoing audit process and values the inputs of the AG in rebuilding “our tax administration to ensure that Tshwane becomes financially stable and delivers value-for-money services to residents”.
The unaudited annual financial statements are available from the National Treasury website at https://lg.treasury.gov.za/supportingdocs/TSH/TSH_Financial%20Statement%20PreAudited_2024_Y_20240909T165014Z_andilemp.pdf.
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