EDITOR – Apparently eThekwini Municipality leaders were over the moon on Wednesday at the announcement that the city had received its first clean audit in 16 years. We read that councillors and city manager S’bu Sithole lauded the financial clean bill of health, announced recently by Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, as a “historic achievement”.
Has it come to this? For decades Durban was one of only three debt free cities in the world. Until 1994 a clean bill of financial health was the norm, any hint of wrongdoing was exposed and the culprits punished. Now our city leaders are “over the moon” at the first clean audit in sixteen years. For shame.
What is to celebrate? They should hang their heads in shame that they are so inept that they cannot make it the norm. Sixteen years…..
Clearly it's not their money that has been lost, stolen, wasted and misspent these past fifteen years. And for what?
Imagine if all entities which we had an interest in had the same track record? Imagine if every business that pays tax and rates had the same appalling track record? Management would be dumped. The Board charged and individuals would be in jail.
And must we forget how scathing of the municipality's financial management and supply chain procedures and regulations Durban's own internal audit committee’s quarterly reports are? So how ‘clean’ is clean really?
This is not a time to celebrate. It's a moment to reflect and soberly hang our heads in shame. Durban deserves so much better.
Mark Lowe
Durban Action
