This left a bitter taste in MEC for Finance, Motlalepula Rosho’s mouth. She says their no-show affirms Auditor General’s (AG) Kimi Makwetu’s local government audit report which, is critical of the culture of non-commitment and lack of consequence management. 

OFM News previously reported that none of the 22 municipalities in the province received a clean audit, and that some municipalities in the province are part of the 74% of municipalities that did not adequately follow up allegations of financial and supply chain management misconduct and fraud. 

MEC Rosho says their absence clearly attests to dismal performance by municipalities in the province, and affirms the Auditor Generals’ report on performance by local government. 

Makwetu earlier revealed that irregular expenditure nationwide was down from R29.7 billion in 2016/17 to R25.2 billion in 2017/18. He added that clean audits were down from 14% in 2016/17, to 8% in 2017/18 with only 18 of 257 municipalities achieving clean audits consistently. 

Rosho says only CFOs from Mahikeng, Matlosana, Ditsobotla, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Maquassi Hills, Dr RS Mompati, Madibeng and Rustenburg attended the quarterly forum. 

Rosho says officials employed for finance management are key in driving service delivery, and without their participation; acceleration of service delivery to communities remains an illusion. 

OFM News/Dinovian Lewis & Lucky Nkuyane