MILLIONS of rands have been set aside by the provincial department of local government to help the Eastern Cape’s 45 municipalities achieve clean audits by next year .
With just a few months before deadline, no provincial municipalit ies have managed to achieve clean audits from the Auditor-General Terence Nombembe for the 2011-12 financial year.
In his latest assessment, the AG voiced concern on progress made.
Delivering his department’s policy speech at the Bhisho Legislature yesterday, local government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane committed R42.1-million for municipalities towards attaining clean audits by next year .
Qoboshiyane, whose department was recently allocated a total budget of R840-million by the provincial treasury, also committed R37-million to municipal chief financial officers and a further R15-million for institutional support to municipalities.
Various municipalities, including Buffalo City Metro (BCM), have been without finance heads for more than three years, resulting in financial shambles, with the AG continuously raising concerns over vacancies in such a critical post.
Qoboshiyane said the total percentage of filled posts in provincial municipalities stood at 88% .
He said concerns had been raised over the municipal councils’ inability to spend conditional grants allocated by the national treasury.
His department committed R4.2- million for supporting municipalities in achieving 100% expenditure of capital grant allocations which currently stood at over R6-billion.
“These conditional capital grants form a critical priority of the province because the grant holds the key to unleashing a province-wide infrastructure revolution and guaranteeing that requisite infrastructure is in place for basic service delivery to unfold,” the MEC said.
Qoboshiyane said his department had invoked constitutional provisions to help 14 municipalities strengthen their capacity .
These include Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City Metro, Mbhashe, Great Kei, Port St Johns, Amahlathi, Ngqushwa, Mhlontlo, Makana and Mbizana. —
MEC gives millions in clean audits bid
With just a few months before deadline, no provincial municipalit ies have managed to achieve clean audits from the Auditor-General Terence Nombembe for the 2011-12 financial year.
In his latest assessment, the AG voiced concern on progress made.
Delivering his department’s policy speech at the Bhisho Legislature yesterday, local government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane committed R42.1-million for municipalities towards attaining clean audits by next year .
Qoboshiyane, whose department was recently allocated a total budget of R840-million by the provincial treasury, also committed R37-million to municipal chief financial officers and a further R15-million for institutional support to municipalities.
Various municipalities, including Buffalo City Metro (BCM), have been without finance heads for more than three years, resulting in financial shambles, with the AG continuously raising concerns over vacancies in such a critical post.
Qoboshiyane said the total percentage of filled posts in provincial municipalities stood at 88% .
He said concerns had been raised over the municipal councils’ inability to spend conditional grants allocated by the national treasury.
His department committed R4.2- million for supporting municipalities in achieving 100% expenditure of capital grant allocations which currently stood at over R6-billion.
“These conditional capital grants form a critical priority of the province because the grant holds the key to unleashing a province-wide infrastructure revolution and guaranteeing that requisite infrastructure is in place for basic service delivery to unfold,” the MEC said.
Qoboshiyane said his department had invoked constitutional provisions to help 14 municipalities strengthen their capacity .
These include Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City Metro, Mbhashe, Great Kei, Port St Johns, Amahlathi, Ngqushwa, Mhlontlo, Makana and Mbizana. —
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