FIVE years ago when we were elected to the ANC Eastern Cape executive committee the local and provincial government audit outcomes inspired despair.
Each auditor general report billed irregular, unauthorised, fruitless, wasteful, over and under expenditure as the order of the day in many government institutions. The organisation also had its own challenges characterised by the former leadership as “devil-like”.
The key challenge that faced us in 2009 was to build cohesion in the ANC and to reconfigure both local and provincial government so that it would be responsive to manifesto priorities.
Education, health, roads and public works had the worst audit outcomes competing for disclaimer and adverse outcomes as a result of poor financial systems and controls and a lack of proper governance.
Over the years we focused on building a strong and responsive administration wedded to corporate governance and clean administration that meets the needs of our people.
There were challenges but our collective resolve pushed every challenge aside leading to two departments, the legislature and agencies getting clean audits.
It is noteworthy that as three departments got clean audits, not a single department got adverse or disclaimer audit outcomes in the recent results.
We will not pop out the champagne to celebrate this positive result, instead we will continue to address the issues the AG said we must focus on to maintain clean governance.
Improved planning, co-ordination, implementation and the delivery of services, confirmed by census 2011, are key to these audit results.
We welcome these results with humility as a sign of achieving a working reconfigured state and of our commitment to continue working with our people.
Municipalities on the other hand didn’t show much improvement.
If we cast our eyes back, provincial departments and municipalities couldn’t be audited.
We inherited a secretive state that accounted to no-one. We morphed it into a transparent state meeting the needs of our people.
But much as we see progress in the provincial government, the mounting challenges in municipalities need the same resolve and commitment.
Operation clean audit lifted a number of municipalities out of the administrative quagmire and set them on a path of righteous fiscal management, albeit with a few regressions.
When our premier Phumulo Masualle signed delivery agreements with the new MECs he said: “We will aggressively confront the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. We really need to get the province where it belongs.
“Not number last in everything. We cannot fail our people.”
This is the political call we are answering with commitment, cognisant of the challenges ahead.
The AG doesn’t hide reasons why municipalities still get bad audit reports.
No one but the ANC must ensure that our deployees ensure proper governance in their areas of work by putting proper systems and controls in place.
As the PEC we will continue to work with them to ensure proper systems, competent officials, and committed and skilled politicians deliver to communities.
Fraud, corruption, manipulation of procurement systems and of recruitment processes, and lack of quality assurance are some of the challenges we still face in these municipalities.
Each of our deployed comrades is conscious of their task, mindful of the commitments made to the people of this province.
Failure to implement each commitment forces the ANC to act.
Each mayor will now table implementation of audit turn-around plans to us quarterly. There has been infighting in some municipalities and we intervened by redeploying comrades as they affected delivery.
Some wrongly deem this as purging. It is political management of situations injuring progressive transformation of our society.
The premier will meet with all government officials about effective development.
For us to take our top spot in the national space we need to deliver with a greater sense of urgency and accountability.
Complete eradication of poverty, unemployment, inequality, fraud, corruption and poor audit results will be the measure of our success.
Society must help us stop people who wrongfully benefit from social services meant for needy households and individuals because they defraud the poor.
The same correct morality barometer we use for politicians and public servants must be used for business, academics, traditional leaders, communities and religious organisations.
It is the collective resolution of challenges, not selectivism that will move our country forward.
Lubabalo Mabuyane is the secretary for the ANC in the Eastern Cape
Municipalities in drive to effect audit turn-around
Each auditor general report billed irregular, unauthorised, fruitless, wasteful, over and under expenditure as the order of the day in many government institutions. The organisation also had its own challenges characterised by the former leadership as “devil-like”.
The key challenge that faced us in 2009 was to build cohesion in the ANC and to reconfigure both local and provincial government so that it would be responsive to manifesto priorities.
Education, health, roads and public works had the worst audit outcomes competing for disclaimer and adverse outcomes as a result of poor financial systems and controls and a lack of proper governance.
Over the years we focused on building a strong and responsive administration wedded to corporate governance and clean administration that meets the needs of our people.
There were challenges but our collective resolve pushed every challenge aside leading to two departments, the legislature and agencies getting clean audits.
It is noteworthy that as three departments got clean audits, not a single department got adverse or disclaimer audit outcomes in the recent results.
We will not pop out the champagne to celebrate this positive result, instead we will continue to address the issues the AG said we must focus on to maintain clean governance.
Improved planning, co-ordination, implementation and the delivery of services, confirmed by census 2011, are key to these audit results.
We welcome these results with humility as a sign of achieving a working reconfigured state and of our commitment to continue working with our people.
Municipalities on the other hand didn’t show much improvement.
If we cast our eyes back, provincial departments and municipalities couldn’t be audited.
We inherited a secretive state that accounted to no-one. We morphed it into a transparent state meeting the needs of our people.
But much as we see progress in the provincial government, the mounting challenges in municipalities need the same resolve and commitment.
Operation clean audit lifted a number of municipalities out of the administrative quagmire and set them on a path of righteous fiscal management, albeit with a few regressions.
When our premier Phumulo Masualle signed delivery agreements with the new MECs he said: “We will aggressively confront the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. We really need to get the province where it belongs.
“Not number last in everything. We cannot fail our people.”
This is the political call we are answering with commitment, cognisant of the challenges ahead.
The AG doesn’t hide reasons why municipalities still get bad audit reports.
No one but the ANC must ensure that our deployees ensure proper governance in their areas of work by putting proper systems and controls in place.
As the PEC we will continue to work with them to ensure proper systems, competent officials, and committed and skilled politicians deliver to communities.
Fraud, corruption, manipulation of procurement systems and of recruitment processes, and lack of quality assurance are some of the challenges we still face in these municipalities.
Each of our deployed comrades is conscious of their task, mindful of the commitments made to the people of this province.
Failure to implement each commitment forces the ANC to act.
Each mayor will now table implementation of audit turn-around plans to us quarterly. There has been infighting in some municipalities and we intervened by redeploying comrades as they affected delivery.
Some wrongly deem this as purging. It is political management of situations injuring progressive transformation of our society.
The premier will meet with all government officials about effective development.
For us to take our top spot in the national space we need to deliver with a greater sense of urgency and accountability.
Complete eradication of poverty, unemployment, inequality, fraud, corruption and poor audit results will be the measure of our success.
Society must help us stop people who wrongfully benefit from social services meant for needy households and individuals because they defraud the poor.
The same correct morality barometer we use for politicians and public servants must be used for business, academics, traditional leaders, communities and religious organisations.
It is the collective resolution of challenges, not selectivism that will move our country forward.
Lubabalo Mabuyane is the secretary for the ANC in the Eastern Cape
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