A qualified report is issued when there are processes or transactions that prevent a clean report. A common reason for auditors issuing a qualified opinion is the lack of records with generally accepted accounting principles. Freedom Front Plus councillor, Giel van Niekerk, said in a statement that the municipality does not have the necessary knowledge and systems in place to manage the municipality properly.

“The report points out, among other things, that suppliers were appointed who are directors in the service of another state institution. It was identified that the service providers did business with the municipality in the current financial year and that the directors of the company did not declare on the MBD4 certificate (declaration of interests) that they do business with the municipality.” Van Niekerk said that this is an indication that stricter supervision and control are needed to prevent this type of corruption.

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The report also stated that there were no dates recorded on the overtime register used to calculate the overtime hours of employees. He said that mechanisms must be put into place to control the calculation of overtime and combat the abuse of the overtime register. Meanwhile, DA councillor, Sybrandt de Beer, told the Herald that the ANC-led municipality needs to improve from a qualified to a clean audit report.

“The report stated that responsible steps were not taken to prevent the irregular expenditure of R40.5 million. They hired too many service providers to handle the different financial statements and processes and we believe this might be one of the causes of the financial instability of the institution,” he said. The spokesman of BPM, Jonas Mahesu told the Herald that they are working on a plan to remedy the report. He concluded by stating that he will not respond to the disappointment of opposition parties, as it is the practice to oppose the ruling party