Bela-Bela Municipal Budget under scrutiny of AG

In a council meeting held on Thursday, 30 January, the Attorney General addressed the previous budget and highlighted some points of concern.
The Final Audit Report for Bela-Bela Local Municipality was graded a Qualified Report with some issues currently receiving attention. The AG admitted that Bela-Bela Municipality’s current audit report looks much better than the previous report for 2022/2023. There were however two key issues that needed to be addressed. No new findings were identified, but the preparation of the annual financial report and the financial and asset management section showed areas of concern.
The first issue related to the non-compliance of legislation by the officers of the municipality. This matter has already been addressed and recommendations made are currently receiving attention. The AG was however concerned about the quality of proper record keeping. The daily and monthly reports compiled by the municipality and the monitoring and review process of the financial reports must be kept in conjunction with legislation.
One of the main concerns was that the municipality took 151 days to collect debts owed to it, this is not a viable option in strict financial management but the AG was happy with the fact that wasteful expenditure had been cut back. Although the municipality ended the year in surplus, he did not think that would have been the case, had the municipality not received grants from the government. He was also satisfied with the performance planning that was done and the three municipal project targets that were not reached in time, could all three be attributed to contractors that were delayed by adverse weather conditions?
Water maintenance and sanitation was also one of the key areas that needed attention, as there were clear indications of non-compliance with the act. The main issue here seemed to be a lack of monitoring and dilapidated infrastructure.
The Auditor-General was happy overall that the compliance with legislation has improved. Areas where concerns were identified had been addressed and measures have been put into place to rectify the issues. He commended the municipality for making a real effort to do better.
Overall the audit report, although not ideal, was well received, and the measures put in place from the initial AG report seemed to be paying off dividends. Mayor Gloria Seleka said that although the report was not unqualified, she was happy with the result and is certain that the current budget will receive a much better audit report.