CDC asks auditor-general to step in after qualified audit

Coega Development Corporation has asked auditor-general Kimi Makwetu to intervene after his office in the Eastern Cape gave the entity a qualified audit opinion for the year 2017-18.

This is a regression compared to the 2016-17 financial year when Coega received an unqualified audit opinion.

This was after the entity failed to table its annual report even though it should have been tabled in the Bhisho legislature more than a month ago.

In a letter to economic development & environmental affairs MEC Oscar Mabuyane, CDC board chair Dr Paul Jourdan said should Makwetu not intervene, they would take the decision for a judicial review.

“We strongly believe a serious injustice is being visited upon the entity in terms of the applicable accounting standards, without due regard to the fatal consequences to the mandate and the work of the entity, all of which is predicated on good governance, as best approximated through audited financial statements,” he wrote.

He said if Makwetu’s office affirmed the provincial previous decision of the auditor-general of South Africa (AGSA), the CDC would pursue the matter with the respective professional and regulatory bodies.

The entity has even appointed three audit firms to challenge the opinion.

According to National Treasury’s annual report guide, failure to table the report is in direct violation of the Public Finance Management Act.

Coega spokesperson Dr Ayanda Vilakazi said CDC management appeared before the portfolio committee on economic development in Bhisho on Thursday to present their case.

AGSA spokesperson Africa Boso said: “AGSA will table and release its 2017-18 report on the audit outcomes of national and provincial departments, as well as public entities on November 21. As is our mandate, we can only deal with related matters after we have tabled the report in parliament.”

The entity has even appointed three audit firms to challenge the opinion