These are the words of the North West MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Manketsi Tlhape during the submission of Annual Financial Statements (AFS) by municipalities at a ceremony held in Rustenburg recently at which all 23 municipalities officially handed over their AFS to the Auditor-General.
“We have achieved yet another milestone in the history of local government in the North West province in that all 23 municipalities have been able to submit their AFS on record time. This is the 2nd year in a row that we have registered this improvement.
However we cannot celebrate as yet given the audit outcomes that our municipalities get, but all is not doom and gloom. I must applaud all municipalities that this is a step in the right direction and our next biggest challenge as a province, is to ensure 100% improvement on the quality of these financial statements.
It is one of the issues that continues to bother us as local government in that some of these financial statements do not meet the standards and requirements of the accounting framework as raised by the Auditor-General on a number of occasions”, she said.
The Auditor-General in his own words, acknowledged that the overall outcomes have improved marginally with reported disclaimed or adverse opinions moving from 86% to 81%.
Surely we can do better and I am confident that with the kind of partnership and interventions we have put in place as the North West Provincial Government and the Office of the Auditor-General through the capable leadership of Premier Thandi Modise we are working towards improved audit outcomes if not clean audits for all municipalities.
I therefore appeal to all Mayors and Councillors to provide political leadership and oversight in order to address the root causes of poor audit outcomes she said.
Meanwhile, Tlokwe local municipality and Dr Kenneth Kaunda district municipality received an award for improved audits, Bojanala Platinum district municipality, Ratlou and Greater Taung local municipalities received an award for consistently submitting their AFS for the past three (3) financial years. Rustenburg Water Service Trust received an award for submitting AFS in the past three years and also for receiving improved audit opinion in 2011/12.
Contact person:
Dineo Lolokwane
Cell: 072 542 8444