Lukhanji rated better than others

THE former Lukhanji Municipality performed much better on the financial front than the other two municipalities, Inkwanca and Tsolwana, with which it has merged to form the Enoch Mgijima Municipality, it was indicated in the audit report by the office of the auditor-general (AG), Kimi Makwethu, for the 2015-16 financial year.

The deputy business executive in the provincial AG’s office, Shereen Noble, speaking at the tabling of the report before council on Tuesday, said how the municipalities took care of the funds given to them, how they reported on the use of funds and abiding by legislation were among the issues taken into account when preparing the audit report.

Lukhanji received a qualified audit outcome, with disclaimers for Inkwanca and Tsolwana.

Noble said Tsolwana was the worst off with leadership instability, lack of capacity and no records to show how the money had been spent. Tsolwana did not submit information for auditing while its financial statements were submitted late.

“The targets in Lukhanji and Inkwanca were not specific and there were no documents to support the information in the performance report.”

All three municipalities were unable to detect and prevent irregular expenditure and the full amount could not be established.

Noble said the municipal public accounts committee (Mpac) had to investigate who was responsible for the irregular expenditure for it either to be recovered or written off.

The figures and the findings of the AG could not be obtained as the municipality had supplied the incorrect audit report to council during Tuesday’s meeting.

Budget and treasury political head Madoda Papiyane said the on the current financial year.