Premier Mabuza
content that provincial departments receive no disclaimers from the
Auditor-General
Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has expressed some
satisfaction that at least not a single department from his administration
received a disclaimer opinion from the Auditor-General [AG] Mr Kimi Makwethu.
The Auditor-General visited Mpumalanga
Announcing the audit findings at a meeting with the Premier,
Finance and COGTA MECs, the AG said he was pleased about the level of
improvements in the performance of the provincial government, as the province
had escaped from the “reds”.
At least five departments received unqualified with no
findings audit opinions, eight got unqualified with findings, and other four departments
got qualified with findings. Not a single department received a disclaimer
opinion.
An unqualified opinion with no findings simply means a clean
audit; it means that the departments were able to provide financial statements
free of material misstatements, the report was in a useful and reliable manner
on performance as measured against predetermined objectives in the annual performance
plan, and that the departments complied with key legislation.
On the other hand, the unqualified opinion with findings
means that the departments were able to produce financial statements without
misstatements but struggled to align their performance reports to the
predetermined objectives they had committed themselves to deliver on their
annual performance plans.
It further means the departments struggled to set clear
performance indicators and targets to measure their performance against their
predetermined objectives and that also struggled to report reliably on whether
they achieved their performance targets.
With a qualified audit opinion, it means departments had the
same challenges as those that were unqualified with findings but, in addition,
they could not produce credible and reliable financial statements.
If departments received disclaimers, it means the
Auditor-General was unable to make an audit opinion on their performance, as
they were unable to provide sufficient supporting documentation for amounts in
the financial statements and achievements reported in their annual performance
report. It further means departments simply did not comply with key
legislation.
The five provincial departments that received unqualified
with no findings audit outcomes are; Finance, COGTA, Social Development,
Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust and Gambling Board.
The departments of Education, Human Settlements, Public
Works Roads and Transport, Culture Sports and Recreation, Economic Development,
Environmental and Tourism, Legislature, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency,
and the Office of the Premier received the unqualified with findings audit
outcomes.
It was only the departments of Health, Mpumalanga Economic
Growth Agency, Agriculture Rural Development and Land Administration, Community
Safety Security and Liaison that received qualified with findings audit
opinions.
Premier Mabuza said he was happy that all provincial
departments had moved out from getting the disclaimers. The Premier’s tactic of
asking the heads of departments to sign the resignation letters if they received
the disclaimers seemed to have paid off as not a single department received a
disclaimer opinion.
“As a province we tried very hard to get things right, at a
certain point we had to fight. We are happy that all of us have moved out from
getting the disclaimers, although a lot still has to be done.
“We are aware that we dropped the ball on our work during
the campaigning period as the election took the political leadership away from
strongly focusing on the government work. Again most of our heads of
departments had their contracts expiring.
“Nevertheless, these audit outcomes are improving our image
as a provincial government, they help the public to have confidence on the
ruling party that their funds are at least managed correctly,” said Mabuza.
He appreciated the AG for his continuous support in the
provincial government adding that such interactions were helpful in the daily
work of the provincial government.
“We are grateful that you are not getting tired with us, we
will find a way of not regressing but further improve on our work. We believe
this is going to be a turbulent financial year for our provincial government as
we have almost 50 percent new people on leadership positions.
“We must allow them to familiarize themselves with the work
of government. We may not get good results in their first year, but we are
confident that as a provincial government we have stabilized and we are now
settled,” said Mabuza.
The AG recommended and attributed such a success on
effective leadership demonstrated by the political leadership in the province
adding that the prospects for the province to continuously get unqualified
opinions were real.
He said the political leadership was showing some strengths
and he hoped that there was no chance for reversing.
At least three departments [COGTA, Social Development and
Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust] improved from unqualified with findings to
unqualified with no findings.
Only two departments [Office of the Premier and Community
Safety Security and Liaison] regressed from their previous financial year audit
findings which were unqualified with no findings and unqualified with findings
respectively.
According to the AG, areas of qualification on financial
statements that needed attention were mostly on management of assets, irregular
expenditure and on investment properties.
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