Pretoria – Government has welcomed the Auditor General Kimi Makwetu’s report on local government audit outcomes.
The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), on Thursday, said government is encouraged by the noticeable increase in the number of municipalities and municipal entities that received a clean audit.
Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said the progress was achieved through the system of going back to the basics, put in place by the political and administrative leadership.
She said government is pleased that the municipalities have implemented the back to basics strategy, which resulted in the total number of clean audits increasing from 30 in the 2012-13 financial year to 58 in 2013-14.
“Government has noted the areas that require attention and remains committed to strengthening financial control.
“Achieving clean audit opinions is not impossible, as indicated in the AGs report. The affected municipalities are advised to implement the rudimentary tasks in government’s back to basics plan,” said Williams.
GCIS said the outcomes indicate that government is hard at work to ensure that the financial health of municipalities is improved.
The department said the implementation of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (Cogta’s) back to basics plan shows that government is moving in an upwards trajectory to improve audits in local and provincial governments. - SAnews.gov.za
