Auditor General positive about Western Cape Municipalities
Anton Bredell, Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning said he is pleased with the excellent audit outcomes for Western Cape municipalities for the 2020/21 financial year.
“We received 22 Unqualified with no findings results, 5 Unqualified with findings, and only 3 qualified audits. If we compare these results to the previous audit, we are seeing 24 unchanged results, 5 municipalities improved, and only one municipality has regressed in performance,” Bredell said.
Mireille Wenger, Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunity said that “I welcome the good news on the local government audit outcomes in the Western Cape and I would like to thank the officials in the Provincial Treasury, who work hand-in-hand with municipal officials, to achieve these impressive outcomes. These are the second-best audit outcomes in the Western Cape since 2015 and shows that the Western Cape continues to lead nationally in good governance. Sound financial management of municipal resources is a pre-requisite for economic growth, which leads to job creation. This is why the Western Cape government is absolutely committed to continuing and improving on these outcomes so that we create the right conditions for the private sector, including small businesses, to create more jobs in our province.”
Bredell said good audit outcomes are an integral aspect of good governance and is reflected in sound management and financial discipline. “There is also a direct link between clean audits and service delivery. The challenge is to adopt procedures and systems that will maintain this high standard irrespective of who the individuals in charge are,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. We see that bad audit outcomes are reflected in non-services delivery. Also, it is mostly municipalities with small budgets that do not perform from an audit outcome perspective,” Bredell said.
Bredell said the Department of Local Government is ready to support municipalities who are struggling with financial management. The Province has an Integrated Work Plan developed by Provincial Treasury in collaboration with the Department of Local Government, to monitor the performance of municipalities and to identify risks and address challenges.
One such initiative is the Consolidated Audit Action Plan which supports poor performing municipalities specifically with the audit findings identified.
The Department also develops Operational Support plans incorporating these audit findings and to support municipalities with the implementation of initiatives that can address challenges and risks identified.
Steering Committees are also established, consisting of all provincial and national stakeholders and the private sector to implement these initiatives collaboratively at the respective municipalities. Progress on the implementation of the Operational Support Plans is monitored on a regular basis.
According to the 2020/21 Auditor General Report, the municipalities of Beaufort West, Kannaland, and Laingsburg received Qualified Audits, and the Municipality of Prince Albert regressed from an Unqualified with no findings outcome to an Unqualified with findings outcome.