ZULULAND municipalities have been given an ultimatum of producing improved audit outcomes – or risk losing performance bonuses or rewards.
This was the warning from KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Nomusa Dube-Ncube, speaking at the Local Government Municipal Finance conference held in Durban last week.
Addressing Chief Financial Officers and Accounting Officers from various municipalities, including the Zululand region, the MEC said, ‘Improving audit outcomes were crucial and non-negotiable’.
Another issue that featured prominently was the excessive use of ‘emergency deviation’ from the standard procurement regulations.
‘Emergency deviations have previously been targeted by the Provincial Treasury in respect of government departments and now it is COGTA’s turn to ensure that this provision is not abused at municipal level. This is what the Auditor General would label as irregular expenditure,’ explained Dube-Ncube.
Although the use of emergency deviations does not constitute any maladministration, fraud or corruption, the MEC has consistently cautioned municipalities to make less use of this provision and reserve this tool only for use under critical circumstances.
KZN COGTA is maximising its efforts to enable all municipalities to achieve clean audits by providing hands-on support to their management structures, as well as their own oversight bodies such as the municipal Audit Committees and the Municipal Public Accounts Committees.
COGTA’s support structure and monitoring of municipal finances ensure that municipalities are able to plan and budget with integrity.
‘Deciding whether to intervene and what to investigate is always a balancing act. We need to work within our mandate and limited resources and we cannot duplicate functions that are already performed by municipalities themselves or supreme audit institutions such as the Auditor General whose office pronounces on the regularity of municipal financial management.’
The best approach is where municipalities engage continuously with regards to their specific needs.
‘Prevention along with a system of checks and balances plays an important role in ensuring that crises, in the way local government is managed, do not break out,’ said the MEC.
