Naming and shaming poor performing municipalities has helped to drastically improve the financial health of many KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, provincial minister for co-operative governance Nomusa Dube said on Tuesday.
“As a consequence of our actions and support provided, municipalities which were errant kids are today on an unqualified audit and are now out of the ICU,” Dube told journalists in Durban.
She said she was happy that of the province’s 61 municipalities, 44 had received unqualified audits from Auditor General Terrence Nombembe.
“This represents an improvement of 11% compared with the previous financial year where there were 37 unqualified opinions. Only eight municipalities received qualified opinions which represents a reduction of 13%,” said Dube.
No municipality received an adverse audit opinion while nine received disclaimers.
She said the audit outcomes showed that the municipalities were getting their financial acts together.
“There has been a distinct improvement compared to previous financial years. We will now build on this positive trajectory as we press down the accelerator towards achieving clean audits by all municipalities in 2014,” said Dube.
When Dube took office last year, she warned that she would not hesitate to take action against poorly performing municipalities.
She recently summoned 13 errant municipalities to account for their persistent poor financial performance and non-compliance.
“We took a tough stance to adopt a hands-on support approach including preferring criminal charges against mayors and municipal managers,” she said.
Dube said leaders of errant municipalities had been embarrassed when she named and shamed them in front of their colleagues during a meeting in Durban.
The department appointed administrators to assume responsibilities in Umhlabuyalingana, Indaka and uKhahlamba municipalities six months ago after the municipalities crumbled into serious financial disarray.
“The cash balance of these municipalities as we speak has improved significantly. The cash flow in all the municipalities is now on the positive,” she said.
Dube said the investigation had concluded that certain senior managers at Msunduzi municipality would be hauled before the disciplinary tribunal due to sit on August 4.
Many senior managers of the Msunduzi municipality, incorporating the city of Pietermaritzburg, were suspended after the municipality
experienced serious financial cash flow problems.
The mayor’s entire municipal executive was dissolved.
“We are in the process of considering the laying of criminal charges against all the suspended employees following investigations into the various allegations of misconduct,” she said.
Dube said civil summons to the value of more than R15-million had been issued against the former municipal manager of Umhlabuyalingana
municipality. –Sapa