Western Cape Government Increases Clean Audits

Media Statement by Alan Winde, Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism

I am pleased to announce that in the 2011/2012 financial year, the Western Cape Government has once again increased its share of clean audit outcomes as per the province’s audit report card from the Auditor-General of South Africa.

Western Cape Government Department Audit Outcomes

This year, four departments - Provincial Treasury, Community Safety, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning and Provincial Parliament - achieved clean audits (unqualified with no findings).

This is an improvement on the three we achieved last year, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the officials within these departments for their diligent leadership and compliance with all the laws that govern our spending.

These departments are a shining example for others across South Africa, and are already meeting the National Government’s aim of achieving clean audits across the board by 2014.

Equally commendable are the nine departments that achieved unqualified audits, with findings. In these departments, minor issues of a technical nature were raised by the Auditor-General which will be addressed in the ensuing year.

The Auditor-General classified the Western Cape Education Department's asset register of mobile units as incomplete and, on the basis of this, gave the department a qualified audit.

The department has installed 2 404 mobile units over the past three years, often in conjunction with governing bodies, civil society and religious groups.

The WCED immediately developed a comprehensive plan to address the Auditor-General's finding and expects to complete the asset register of mobile units by the end of October 2012.

Western Cape Government Entities

Thus far, seven entities have received clean audits, which is more than double the amount attained last year. These entities are: the Gambling and Racing Board, the Cultural Commission, the Language Committee, Heritage Western Cape, the Cape Medical Depot, Casidra and Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

Five entities received unqualified audit opinions with findings: Western Cape Nature Conservation, the Provincial Development Council, the Liquor Board, Wesgro and Government Motor Transport.

The Western Cape Housing Development Fund audit is still in progress and will be finalised soon.

We are thrilled with the progress we have made in moving more of our departments and entities towards clean and unqualified audits.

After a thorough analysis of our audit results for 2011/2012, we are confident that we can achieve more clean audits across the board in 2013.

In line with our objective of becoming the best-run regional government in the world, we have put in place a number of measures to ensure that we continue to deliver clean governance:

•  Zero tolerance for fraud and corruption.
•  The hiring of skilled and qualified staff.
•  Taking heed of Audit Outcomes to prevent recurring findings.
•  The reduction of risk to ensure efficient and effective use of financial resources.
•  Ensuring sustainable, credible and effective cash flow.

Because we believe that clean finances mean better service delivery to our people, we are investing all of our energy into making this goal a reality.

In the coming year, we will radically improve the support that we provide to departments of the Western Cape by single-mindedly focusing on what is necessary for each and every one to achieve a clean audit.

Through a process of analysing the Auditor-General’s Management Reports and our own assessments, we will devise a specific Governance Action Plan with each department within the Western Cape that addresses the gap between their current audit outcome and a clean audit outcome. These reports will target the Auditor-General’s key areas of concern, which include keeping proper financial statements, IT controls, HR management, Supply Chain Management, the management of assets and meeting the predetermined performance targets that we set for ourselves.