LOCAL government shone this week when both the uThungulu District Municipality and the City of uMhlathuze were awarded third consecutive clean audits.
SA Auditor General Kimi Makwetu and KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Nomusa Dube-Ncube announced on Monday both were among 20 municipalities that obtained favourable audit opinions.
Responding to the news declaring the diligent managing of its finances, City Mayor Cllr Mduduzi Mhlongo attributed the achievement to a ‘great display of team work between the councillors who play an oversight role and the administration, which executes community projects’.
‘To us as the council, this is testament to the fact that our priorities are channeled correctly and are supported by healthy and effective systems that enable sustainable service delivery at a stipulated time frames.
‘We are proud of our efforts to ensure that public funds are utilised effectively and the communities we service see value for money in their municipality,’ said Mhlongo.
No complacency
‘On the other hand, the community must appreciate the return on investment on the kind of leadership they have elected.’
Mhlongo also applauded his team for implementing council resolutions with persistence.
‘The clean audit is as a result of properly and systematically executing work to service people.’
In a year that has seen the City receive a number of notable awards, Mhlongo warned against complacency.
‘We still have a lot to do for our communities and our focus now is on developing and transforming the economic climate to be conducive for growth and development.
‘The plans that we are fine tuning are massive and we will unveil them in the near future.’
District team praised
uThungulu District Municipal Manager, Mandla Nkosi was equally upbeat about the triple clean audit ‘ which is an unqualified audit with no matters of emphasis’.
‘This is a considerable achievement, maintaining the clean audit status for three years running. ‘We worked considerably hard this year to ensure that we met the rigorous audit requirements and I am pleased that our efforts were not in vain.’
UDM Mayor Thembeka Mchunu thanked members of council and the staff for their commitment and hard work.
‘We have achieved this as a team and we take the glory as a team.’
