Emalahleni Local Municipality has progressed from disclaimer to a qualified audit opinion.
There was a sigh of relief when this was brought to the attention of council, during a council meeting held on January 25.
“The municipality has been trapped in the mud of disclaimers for five years, until new leadership stepped in,” said Mr Kingdom Mabuza, municipal spokesperson.
Upon taking office two years ago, the Executive Mayor Lindiwe Ntshalintshali listed accountability and the need to improve service delivery as some of her objectives.
“We acknowledge the significance of the improvement to a qualified audit opinion, however there’s still a lot to be done to attain a clean audit. I’m pleased that we’re on the right track and we can do better,” said Cllr Ntshalintshali.
She acknowledged the role played by members of the mayoral committee, the Speaker, Chief Whip, oversight, and the administration.
“The municipality must continue to identify and manage all unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful (UIF) expenditures incurred and disclose such in the annual financial statements. Failure to do that will continue to attract negative audit opinions,” she concluded.
An action plan has been developed to put in corrective measures which will be implemented to rectify and improve controls to ensure that matters raised in the auditor general’s report, are resolved within the 2017/18 financial year and do not recur in the next audit report.
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