NELSPRUIT – The executive mayor of Ehlanzeni District Municipality (EDM), Cllr Letta Shongwe, expressed concern about the operation of local municipalities this week. She was speaking at a lekgotla held by the district on Tuesday to which all municipalities in EDM had been invited.
“As EDM, I can gladly say with pride that we have been living our dream of achieving a clean audit report for the past four years,” Shongwe said. “But looking at the way in which our local municipalities are performing, it then becomes a matter of a serious concern that needs our urgent attention.”
Mbombela, Nkomazi, Thaba Chweu, Umjindi and Bushbuckridge municipalities are located in EDM. Last year, not one of them received a clean audit from the Auditor-General’s office.
“We are pleading with them to be receptive to accommodate our officials who are deployed to their space to assist,” the mayor said.
She suggested that EDM’s leadership host the lekgotla, which is used to assess the work done in the previous audit period and prepare for the next cycle, annually. It has received a clean audit opinion for four consecutive years.
Shongwe congratulated her administration and called the leadership clean audit specialists. “It is exciting to mention that EDM has been able to raise Mpumalanga’s provincial flag very high for the last four years for having achieved a clean audit opinion report.”
According to Mr Lucky Ngomane, from the communications department, by the end of the lekgotla, some resolutions will be have been made to help municipalities be ready for the next audit in September.
