Fifth consecutive clean audit for City

THE City of uMhlathuze’s final Exco meeting for the year ended on a high note after Mayor Mdu Mhlongo’s announcement that the municipality had received its fifth consecutive clean audit.

Thanking all staff who contributed to the good result, Mhlongo said it came about from teamwork within the municipality, but the challenge now is to keep improving.

‘What is satisfying about a clean audit is that it comes with good service delivery. Compliance is accompanied by service.

‘While achieving five consecutive clean audits is an excellent result, we have not reached a state of perfection and we must continually strive for improvement.

One area of improvement Mhlongo honed in on was municipal spending, and said administration must work hard to turn the finances around.

‘We must double our efforts now so that by January our finances will look healthier.’

Other items on the Exco agenda included the now contentious funding of the soccer club, which, after initially appearing on the Exco agenda as R1.5-million, was increased to R2.5-million during the meeting.

The donation of a pre-owned tanker for conversion into a firefighting unit was agreed on, with Mayor Mhlongo approving of such a public-private partnership.

Festive season planning raised many concerns, including road congestion and the fact that the item appeared on the agenda for the December meeting rather than earlier in the year.

Water supply in wards 31, 32 and 33 was discussed and it was said that, although the reservoir and bulk reticulation were supplying communities, the many illegal connections were preventing the reservoir from filling up.

These were being dealt with.

Concern over water wastage from people leaving taps open was also raised.

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