They all have one complaint in common, non-payment and in some cases slow payment of debts by the municipality.
“In general with the exception of the Eskom and Water Affairs accounts, the payment to creditors improved, but not sufficiently so. Issues of cash flow often also impacted on the payment dates. It was evident that internal controls in the creditor section were not sufficient and the scheduling and prioritisation of payments often led to frustrations. The non payment of key contractors such as for vehicles and water cars personally frustrated me as this impacted on the availability of these services when we needed these the most. This however was not only a problem in the finance section, but also in departments such as technical services who often failed to submit the invoices,” Mr Theo Van Vuuren, the city’s administrator responded.
Operation Luma, a project initiated by the former chief financial officer, Mr Ben Dorfling, is an exercise where people who are conducting illegal activities are confronted, the situation corrected and where appropriate fines levied. This operation also left space for a lot of questions regarding the money that were recovered during the project.
“Most funds originating from this will be in the form of an increase of the actual monthly payments on consumer accounts. In addition certain lump sums on outstanding debt have been paid over and this will continue. This was estimated at R53 million last year. This money, as well as fines levied against people who have transgressed, have been paid over to the municipal revenue account,” Van Vuuren shed some light.
Van Vuuren said the Auditor General’s comments should be read in context, also understanding the way in which findings are reported.
After the damning report from the Auditor General Van Vuuren said, “The Auditor General in most cases refrained from coming to a final conclusion and to express an opinion as the supporting documents could not be supplied within the stipulated time frames. Therefore its not to be read that at this stage there are money unaccounted for. In this process, and in following up on the audit, management has now the task to follow up on all indicated issues, including these on unaccounted for monies.
“The municipality has already during December prepared a comprehensive follow up plan where all these findings are being attended to. I am aware that most outstanding documents have since the audit already been obtained and am also hopeful that most findings will be cleared within the next five months. Should it be confirmed that there are funds which can not be accounted for after this process, then these items will be further acted upon,” Van Vuuren said.
Attempts to speak to Dorfling about the non- and late payment issues, were fruitless. His phone number no longer exists.
