/ 25 May 2018

KZN AG halts eThekwini audit following ‘death threats’

The audit process requires full co-operation from municipalities and this is non-negotiable as far as we at Cogta are concerned, said Dube-Ncube.
The audit process requires full co-operation from municipalities and this is non-negotiable as far as we at Cogta are concerned, said Dube-Ncube.

The KZN office of the auditor-general has stopped auditing the books of the eThekwini Metro and has recalled all its staff from the council after allegedly receiving a series of death threats, the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) said on Friday.

The department said it would investigate the circumstances that led to the provincial auditor-general office’s decision.

READ MORE: Crackdown on obdurate local councils

“The KZN office of the auditor-general is the supreme audit institution in the province and it is mandated to audit all government entities, including municipalities, which are, in turn, obliged to submit themselves to regular audits. We cannot tolerate alleged threats that compromise this process,” said the department’s MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

Cogta said it would investigate the alleged threats that, according to the auditor-general’s office, jeopardised the safety of its staff in the eThekwini council.

“We cannot have a situation where the auditor-general’s team is walking out of a municipality on security threats when we are, at the same time, working overtime to support municipalities with their audit improvement plans.

“The audit process requires full co-operation from municipalities and this is non-negotiable as far as we at Cogta are concerned,” said Dube-Ncube.

The municipality was not immediately available for comment. — New 24