Slight improvement at Ugu
Even though there have been improvements there are still a lot of matters which need attention.
EVEN though Ugu’s audit outcome showed a bit of improvement when compared to last year’s report, Auditor- General, Dash Langa, said there was still a lot of work which needed to be done.
Ugu received a qualified audit report which is a slight improvement when compared to the previous year’s disclaimer findings.
Mr Langa said that the municipality still needed to work on matters such as material losses, unauthorised expenditure, irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“I was unable to obtain the information and explanations I considered necessary to satisfy myself as to the reliability of the reported performance information,” said the Auditor-General.
He added that the municipality could not provide sufficient appropriate evidence in support of the reported performance information and the municipality’s records could not permit the application of alternative audit procedures.
Mr Langa pointed out that the financial statements submitted for auditing were not prepared in all material respects in accordance with the requirement of section 122 of the MFMA.
He added that awards were made to providers who are in the service of other state institutions, in contravention of MFMA 112 and Supply Chain Management regulations.
“Similar awards were identified in the previous year and no effective steps were taken to prevent or combat this,” said Mr Langa.
“Sufficient appropriate audit evidence could not be obtained that invitations for competitive bidding were advertised for a required minimum period of days as required,” he added.
Mr Langa also accused leadership and management for not effectively exercising oversight over policies and procedures regarding annual financial statements, procurement and contract management, expenditure management, asset management and budget management.
The Auditor-General said the municipality had the potential to improve its audit report. “The municipality’s entity, Ugu South Coast Tourism managed to get a clean audit, this shows that the municipality can also do it,” he concluded.
