Mayor thrilled at clean audit

Speaking at a handover function hosted by the office of the Auditor-General (AG) in Pretoria last Tuesday, an elated Gungubele thanked the political and administrative leaderships of the city for ensuring that ‘they conducted government business in line with the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act’.

“This is a mission of fulfilment.

“Let me express gratitude to the leadership of the Gauteng Province as well for having demonstrated true commitment to the audit imperatives of the office of the Auditor-General.

“Gratitude must also go to my predecessors for their role in ensuring that a solid foundation was laid towards the clean audit,” he continued.

Turning to the AG’s office, the mayor thanked the team for ‘their robust, frank and truthful attitude’ in assisting the city in achieving its goal.

After receiving the city’s award he said: “When Sicelo Shice, late minister for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, launched Operation Clean Audit 2014, we knew that if we applied our minds as a team the mission was possible.

“Prior to this great achievement we have gone four unqualified audits in a row and this gave us hope that our ultimate objective would be achieved sooner than we thought.”

Ekurhuleni was established 14 years ago, after the amalgamation of 11 erstwhile administrations which used to constitute the former East Rand.

One of the most difficult attributes of the joint venture was the streamlining process of the various administration systems while ensuring that there was no disruption to service delivery.

Gungubele said it was achieved albeit with some difficulties due to the different systems that each of the towns employed before the merger.

“Fourteen years later, all the hard work has finally been rewarded,” he said.

“What this clean audit also means to us as a city is that we have put in place good systems and processes for handling public funds.”

The metro stole the show when it scooped a total of six clean audits on the day.

Clean audits went to the metro and five of the city’s entities: Brakpan Bus Company, Ekurhuleni Development Company, Lethabong Housing Institute, the Greater Germiston Phase Two Housing Company and Pharo Park Housing Company.

The only entity that could not pocket such an award in the city was the East Rand Water Company which was described by the office of the AG as a ‘low hanging’ fruit – a clear demonstration that a clean audit for them is also imminent.

“Now that we have achieved so much, the challenge is to sustain our achievement. We are committed to achieving this, though,” Gungubele concluded.

Eugene Zungu national leader of audit services, congratulated the municipalities that did well and encouraged those that still struggling never to lose hope.

He said systems and processes that have been put in place to assist government institutions in achieving clean audits were beginning to show the required results.