As political parties lead in an attempt to show clean governance building up to the upcoming General Elections, the City of Ekurhuleni has managed to clinch the unqualified audit opinion.
The City received its much-awaited audit report on Tuesday, which has brought relief for some quarters in the political space while others were sceptical of it.
The delay of the report had caused chaos and drama and mistrust among coalition partners who formed part of the government of the City of Ekurhuleni.
The drama played out between ActionSA and ANC, when they accused the EFF Gauteng provincial chairperson and as MMC of Finance in the Mayoral Committee Nkululeko Dunga of hiding the report.
The City of Ekurhuleni received an unqualified audit opinion, with the Auditor-General giving a green light on the city’s finances, the audit report also cleared the city on any unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The City’s attainment of the unqualified audit was credited to City manager Dr Imogen Mashazi.
Mashazi said the outcome of the report indicated that the City’s financial statements presented a fair and accurate picture of the municipality’s financial position and that they had been properly prepared in accordance with the relevant financial standards prescribed in the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The news comes amid ActionSA’s proposed motion of no confidence set against the incumbent executive mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana.
However, the motion has failed the second time around as the council failed to conclude its business yet again on Tuesday evening.
The motion is sponsored by ActionSA and is supported by the two majority parties in council the ANC and DA.
Meanwhile, the City through a statement, clarified what it called the incorrect narrative that its regressions were mainly due to the non-compliance with the supply chain management policy (SCM).
“The City of Ekurhuleni wishes to address and clarify the recent incorrect narratives circulating in the media concerning the Auditor-General’s unqualified audit opinion of the city.
“It is imperative to correct the inaccuracies and present an accurate depiction of the AG’s report that was tabled in Council on 12th March 2024.
“The unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure figures are disclosed in Note 47 of the COE and Note 48 of the Group audited financial statements. The correct figures are disclosed as follows:
“The City received an unqualified audit opinion, which is an upstanding audit outcome and a slight regression from our previous three consecutive clean audit opinions,” the statement read.
The City further emphasised that its financial statements were in the green, as reflected in the audited financial statements, adding that the City was in the green having achieved 78% in terms of the audited service delivery indicators.
The Star