Alone in clean audit

THE AUDITOR-GENERAL’S report has revealed that the City of Cape Town is the only metropolitan municipality that received a clean audit in the 2015-2016 financial year.

Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu released the results yesterday, saying 14 district municipalities had received clean audits.

The province with the highest number of clean audits was the Western Cape, with 80% of its municipalities receiving them.

Makwetu said the Western Cape continued to set the pace on growing clean audit numbers, from 73% in the previous years to 80% in 2015/2016.

He noted the Western Cape’s “focused interventions” and the support from provincial leadership.

Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for finance, councillor Johan van der Merwe, said that despite the“tough economic situation in the country, residents of Cape Town and investors can be encouraged that the City continues to illustrate its commitment to good governance and prudent financial management.

“A well-administered, financially stable city provides the perfect environment for investment, which brings with it business, money and jobs. It is also needed to maintain social stability and to deliver on the service delivery contract that we have with our residents.”

The City said the culture within its organisation determined its financial ethos.

“At all levels of our organisation we have tried to instil a culture of sound financial management, prudent financial choices, efficiency, accountability and respect for our ratepayers and residents by ensuring that we spend public money to the best of our ability.”

He said that where there were challenges “in the complicated sphere of local government finances, we try hard to educate and retrain members of staff, and to drive accountability.”

Following far behind was KwaZulu-Natal, with only 18% of its municipalities receiving clean audits. And only 16% of the Eastern Cape’s municipalities received clean audits.