Address by Hon. Premier DD Mabuza at the
Launch of Provincial Operation Clean Audit, Mbombela
Local
Municipality
08 December 2009
Members of the Provincial Executive Council,
Executive Mayors and Mayors,
Members of Legislature and Councils,
Acting Director-General,
Head of Departments,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On Friday last week, the 4th of December
2009, at about 18H30, the whole world had a particular focus on us as a country.
The football fraternity converged in
Any doubts about our capability as country and people to
host such big international events were finally laid to rest.
As a province, we are ready to welcome the world to our shores.
We are prepared to share our heritage, our beautiful
tourist attractions, our foot balling prowess and our unparalleled hospitality
and Ubuntu.
Today the province is launching the Operation Clean audit
2014. This launch is of particular significance to the
Province and municipalities as it forms an integral part of our commitment to
good governance and improved service delivery at both local and provincial
levels of government
Operation Clean Audit 2014, which I am launching here
today for the
As most of you would know, Operation Clean Audit 2014 was
launched on 16 July 2009 by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs, in a national event that was attended by Parliament,
Provincial Legislatures, Premiers, MECs, HoDs, the Private Sector and a number
of senior government officials.
The goal is of Operation Clean Audit is to ensure that by
2011, no municipality or provincial government department will have a disclaimer
or an adverse audit opinion. By 2014 no department or municipality
should have a disclaimer, negative audit opinion or a qualified audit.
As a Province, we are committed to strengthening
organizational capacities for financial management, information management and
the implementation of control systems within public institutions. It is critical
that we improve accountability and the quality of our financial statements.
Programme Director, it is encouraging that we are
witnessing incremental improvements in the quality of audit outcomes.
Some provincial departments, municipalities and all the
public entities are beginning to turn the corner. The
number of our institutions with unqualified audits is increasing. In some cases
where we had adverse opinions and disclaimers, at least, we now have qualified
audits.
There is no doubt that we still have hard to achieve the
objectives of Operation Clean Audit. There is no room for complacency.
Despite improvements that we have registered, the
Auditor-General's reports continue to reveal ineffectiveness with respect to
internal control environments, poor performance and absence of management
systems in critical areas. This has negatively impacted on
service delivery, good governance and accountability.
To improve our audit outcomes, it is critical that our
institutions attract and retain requisite skills in planning, budgeting and
public financial management.
Operation Clean Audit 2014 has a set of non-negotiable
milestones that we must achieve as a Province:
- Between 2010 and 2011, no municipality and provincial
departments will receive Adverse and Disclaimer Audit opinions.
- At least 60% of provincial departments and the 283
municipalities must achieve unqualified audit opinion by 2012.
- By 2013, there must be an increase to 75% both in
municipalities and provincial departments that achieve unqualified audits.
- By 2014, we must have 100% of ‘clean audits’,
both at provincial departments and all municipalities
This is a call to everyone to get set to deliver on these
miles. Work begins now.
We are cognizant of the fact that we need to improve the
state of our local government sphere of government to enhance our audit
performance. Inadequate financial and administrative systems and poor leadership
seem to be at core of governance challenges facing local government.
A number of assessments have been done with regard to the
state of local government. The reports are indicating that
there are good practices at the local government level but these good practices
are easily overshadowed by a range of problems and challenges that are placing
the local government system in distress.
There are serious governance challenges in many
municipalities. Administrations of many municipalities are not functioning
properly. Finances of many municipalities are not in good shape. Many
municipalities are unable to deliver some of the basic services.
Ineffective financial management and a collapse of
financial management systems and processes in many municipalities lie at the
heart of the low confidence in municipalities expressed by communities and the
general public.
Our inability to collect revenue as required by law is not
happening due to various reasons like poor billing systems, level of indigence,
poor service delivery and limited tax revenue options,
This situation has to be arrested urgently.
As a Province, we have a mammoth task of finding ways to strengthen
institutional capacity through skills acquisition and development.
The strengthening of the procurement systems and controls
at municipalities will be fast tracked by the Provincial Treasury, including the
implementation of anti-corruption strategies. We need
political leadership and oversight at all levels to ensure the targets of
Operation Clean Audit are realized.
We need to ensure that internal audit unit functions are
in place to add value overall organizational risk management and improvement
internal control systems. It is essential to strengthen the oversight role of
external audit committees to ensure our institutions improve financial
management capacities.
Those who are receiving certificates of recognition and
appointment as ambassadors for Operation Clean Audit 2014 should serve to
inspire others to reach such accolades whilst the recipients should not regress.
Today I urge all MECs, Mayors, Municipal Managers, CEOs of
Public entities and Provincial Heads of Departments to lead the path and ensure
that, by 2014, we meet all the objectives of Operation Clean Audit.
It is possible. Let the work begin.
Thank You.
