24 Western Cape municipalities awarded clean audits

The Western Cape government is pleased to announce that 24 out of thirty municipalities in the province, have received clean audits for their 2015/16 financial year from the Auditor General.

The Western Cape has one metropolitan municipality, five district municipalities and 24 local municipalities that get audited under the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

Anton Bredell, Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning says two years ago only 18 out of thirty clean audits were achieved and in 2009 there were no clean audits in the province.

“We are very pleased with the significant improvement - only possible through an ongoing massive team effort by local, district and provincial officials.”

Bredell says efficiently run municipalities remain key to delivering the services needed to make the province a better place for all who live in it.

“Given the legacies we inherited, there are always areas where improvements are needed, but we believe our municipalities provide their communities with the best services possible within the budgets they receive.

It’s a case of getting bang for your buck.”

Four other municipalities received unqualified audit opinions.

One – Oudtshoorn – received a qualified opinion and another one – Kannaland – received a disclaimer audit opinion.

Graham Paulse, head of department for Local Government in the Western Cape, noted the Auditor-General’s comments that ‘focused interventions and support by the provincial leadership continue to bear fruit’.

“Interventions into Oudtshoorn and Kannaland have shown the province will not hesitate to act when called upon, in the best interests of communities.”

Bredell says good financial governance translates into better service delivery.

“We are investing all our energy into making this goal a reality. Over the past years, we have worked tirelessly to instill a zero-tolerance approach toward those who transgress the financial laws governing this province.

We have also rolled out various further training initiatives to ensure that staff are skilled.”

Paulse says the Western Cape will continue to ramp up its hands-on approach toward achieving further clean audits in 2016/2017.

“The department will continue to develop and implement municipal support and good governance initiatives.”