Makhura happy with good audits

PROVINCE’S BEST PERFORMANCE

GAUTENG’s health department and GFleet have finally received unqualified audit outcomes after years of financial issues.

This was revealed by a jovial Gauteng premier David Makhura in Soweto yesterday, saying both departments had improved. The province recorded its best financial performance in 13 years.

The briefing came after auditor general Kimi Makwetu released his report on the 2015/2016 financial year. G-Fleet, the province’s fleet management entity, has been at the centre of financial problems, receiving a disclaimer and adverse audit in the 2014/2015 and 2013/2014 financial years, respectively.

“Our decisive interventions to address challenges at G-Fleet, the agency of the Gauteng department of roads and transport, led to this public entity moving from a disclaimer last year to achieving an unqualified audit status in this audit cycle,” said the premier.

The health department, which Makhura described as “a cloud hanging” over Gauteng for over 10 years, also improved in the 2015/16 financial year.

It moved from qualified audits outcomes in the 2014/15 and 2013/14 financial years to an unqualified outcome in the 2015/16.

The premier said most of the department’s issues came from the large volume of people who came in from other provinces to seek medical help in Gauteng.

“The department has had difficulty with accounting, but I am pleased that the intervention that we put in place has helped,” he said.

An unqualified audit opinion means Makwetu was satisfied with the accuracy and adequacy of the the information from an entity or a department.

A qualified opinion means the AG could not verify certain information and an adverse opinion means there were serious problems with the audit.

Makhura said seven departments in the province achieved clean audits, and they are: the premier’s office, legislature, cooperative governance and traditional affairs department, treasury, social development, and E-government.

The seven departments that achieve unqualified audit opinions are: education, community safety, roads and transport, infrastructure development, agriculture and rural development, health and human settlements.

The premier said 13 public entities, including the Gautrain management agency, the Gauteng tourism authority and the Gauteng gambling board got clean audits.

Public entities that received clean audits include the Gauteng Liquor Board, the Gauteng Housing Fund and G-Fleet.

He said the improvements attested to good governance, in line with the province’s goal to have clean audits across all departments and entities.

“I m pleased intervention we put in place has helped