Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality reach shocking audit report
They could not provide evidence for most of the amounts and disclosures reported in the financial statements
The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) released the report on the Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality audit outcome last week Wednesday.
ALSO READ: Cogta MEC to place Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality under administration
The 2016-17 audit report revealed, during an ordinary council meeting at the Multipurpose Centre in Wembezi, that Inkosi Langalibalele municipality reached a ‘disclaimer’.
A disclaimer is when an auditee had the same challenges as those with qualified opinions but, in addition, they could not provide evidence for most of the amounts and disclosures reported in the financial statements and were unable to conclude an opinion on the credibility of their finical statements.
Councillors were visibly disappointed and shocked, and began interrupting the presentation with a flurry questions.
READ THIS: ‘Wasteful expenditure’ questioned
The AGSA has a constitutional mandate and reputation promise as the supreme audit institution (SAI) of SA to strengthen our country’s democracy by enabling oversight, accountability, and governance in the public sector through auditing and thereby building public confidence.
The crux of the municipality reaching the disclaimer was due to management not adequately reviewing the financial statements, irregular expenditure, and inability to provide documents to support financial statements, unauthorised budgets.
“This is a bitter pill to swallow, but we can learn how not to repeat this in future,” said Ward Councillor Edith Lite.
READ MORE: Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality misuses millions
Councillor Mthembeni Majola thanked the presenters for the report and their findings and added that a detailed report should be made available to council to ensure that they are not being misled.
Municipality Administrator Thandolwethu Manda spent hours going through a detailed recovery plan, which contains due dates along with each area of focus.
Mr Manda pointed out that the disclaimer was reached by both council and management, and that recovery will require hard work and team effort.
READ THIS: Former Mayor responds to ‘misleading information’
He also encouraged and stressed cost cutting during his recovery plan presentation. The action points involve job evaluation.
“This plan was drawn up with officials and it will be implemented without fear or favour,” Mr Manda said sternly.
Councillors agreed that they will need to attend a workshop, which will equip them with knowledge on how to get back on track.
Click to receive news links via WhatsApp. Or for the latest news, visit our webpage or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
