The mayor of Ekurhuleni, Mondli Gungubele, expressed great excitement at the news that the city and five of its entities got clean audits in the 2013/14 financial year.
Clean audits went to the municipality and five of its entities, namely, the Brakpan Bus Company, Ekurhuleni Development Company, Lethabong Housing Institute, the Greater Germiston Phase Two Housing Company and Pharo Park Housing Company.
However, the East Rand Water Company did not get a clean audit and was described by the office of the Auditor-General as a ”low hanging”, fruit, which the metro interpreted as “a clear demonstration that a clean audit for them is also imminent”.
Speaking at a handover function hosted by the Office of the Auditor-General (AG), in Pretoria, on December 2, an elated Gungubele thanked the political and administrative leaderships of the city for ensuring that they conducted government business in line with the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“This is a mission of fulfilment,” he said.
“Let me express gratitude to the leadership of the Gauteng Province, for having demonstrated true commitment to the audit imperatives of the office of the AG.
“Gratitude must also go to my predecessors for their roles in ensuring that a solid foundation was laid towards the clean audit.”
Turning to the AG’s office, the mayor thanked the team for their ”robust, frank and truthful attitude” in assisting the city in achieving its goal.
“When the late minister for co-operative governance and traditional affairs Sicelo Shiceka launched operation Clean Audit 2014, we knew that if we applied our minds as a team the mission was possible.
“Prior to this great achievement we have gone four unqualified audits in a row and this gave us hope that our ultimate objective would be achieved sooner than we thought,” he said after receiving the city’s award.
Ekurhuleni is only 14 years old; it was established after the amalgamation of 11 erstwhile administrations which used to constitute the former East Rand.
Gungubele said one of the most difficult attributes of the joint venture was the streamlining process of the various administration systems, while ensuring that there was no disruption to service delivery.
“Indeed, that was achieved albeit with some difficulties, due to the different systems that each of the towns employed before the merger.
“Fourteen years later, all the hard work has finally been rewarded,” Gungubele said, adding that what the clean audit also means is that they have put in place good systems and processes for handling public funds.
“Now that we have achieved so much, the challenge is to sustain our achievement and we are committed to achieving this.”
