Pretoria - Cabinet says the improvement in local government audit outcomes for 2014/15 has been the result of the Back to Basics Programme, Operation Clean Audit, decisive leadership and improved financial and performance management.
Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe, said the number of municipalities that received financially unqualified audit opinions with no findings increased from 13 in 2010/11 to 54 in 2014/15.
He told media gathered in Pretoria for a post Cabinet briefing that this improvement goes as far as 18 additional municipal entities achieving a clean audit status, taking the total number of clean audits to 72 in the current period.
“There was a significant reduction in adverse and disclaimed opinions, which decreased from over 30% in 2010/11 to about 11% of municipalities in the current period,” he said.
Local Government Elections
With regards to the upcoming Local Government Elections scheduled for 3 August 2016, the Minister said all political parties have to abide by the electoral code of conduct, which all parties have signed.
“This binds all parties contesting in the elections to play their part in securing a free and fair election. Political parties and supporters must abide by the Constitution and those guilty of criminal activity will face the full might of the law.
“In light of the recent political intolerance, the Minister of Police has established a multi-disciplinary task team that comprises South African Police Service (SAPS) Crime Intelligence, Detective Services, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and Forensics to underpin the vision of Medium Term Strategic Framework Outcome Three, which states that ‘All people in South Africa are and feel safe’,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za
