MUNICIPALITIES in Limpopo cannot deliver proper services and outcomes, because many officials are not properly trained for their jobs.
The Auditor-General (AG) Kimi Makwetu’s report showed a regression in Limpopo municipalities’ financial audit statements for the third year in a row.
No municipality or municipal entity received a clean audit for the 2012/13 financial year and no municipality received either an unqualified audit report with no findings or an unqualified report with findings either.
The audit findings of only one entity out of three was known and the audit results of six municipalities and one entity were not yet available for inclusion in the AG’s report.
“Findings” refer to findings on quality of the annual performance reports and no-compliance with legislation.
The AG said the same root causes for the poor results last year were still relevant this year.
In 88% of municipalities, some key officials lacked the minimum competence and skills, including 52% of the CFOs.
A total of 16% of CFO positions were vacant by June 30.
This led to material misstatements in 24 out of the 25 reports.
Unauthorised , irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure remains high, with 20% of municipalities without supply chain management heads.
“Consultants were deployed at municipalities to provide support, but this has achieved mixed results,” said Makwetu.
“He said R56,4 million was paid to consultants during the 2012/13 financial year.
“It is critical to attract staff with requisite skills and competencies. Where positions are filled with unskilled peoples, training needs should be identified.”
According to Makwetu, some officials are still not held accountable for poor performance and transgressions driven by ineffective management systems appears in 76% of municipalities.
Efforts by the provincial authorities to address the issue of consequences were too little , too late and impacted on the audit and contributed to a delay in finalising audits timeously.
