Service, not politics, officials told

ETHEKWINI Municipality officials should develop a sense of responsibility and balance between political affiliations and commitment to service delivery in their quest for good governance and clean audits.

This was the advice from the chief executive of the Institute of Internal Auditors in South Africa, Dr Claudelle von Eck, and Institute of Directors in Southern Africa chief executive, advocate Ansie Ramalho, who spoke at the city’s internal audit and risk management seminar in Durban yesterday.

eThekwini chief audit executive Philip Ntsimane said the seminar aimed to cultivate a culture of good governance among staff and in entities like uShaka Marine World.

“The objective is to get everyone working towards the same goals and hopefully achieve unqualified audits without areas of concern from the office of the Auditor-General South Africa,” he said.

Von Eck raised concerns about the eroding of professional standards in the public and private sector, saying it was the reason corruption was such a huge problem.

“We should stop putting people in leadership positions out of political loyalty and start taking the issue of one’s ability to do the job seriously, because that has resulted in some of the problems we have,” she said.

Ramalho said everyone in the municipality, including the council, had to understand their roles and how their decisions impacted on their responsibility to deliver services effectively.

Ramalho said the council, and not just the municipal manager, should be held accountable for the direction the municipality took on service delivery.