Ekurhuleni Improves on Good Governance and Finance Management
The City of Ekurhuleni has received commendation from the Auditor-General on its performance in terms of good governance and sound fiscal management.
This takes place on the backdrop of the Auditor-General having recently released the consolidated general report on local government audit outcomes for 2018/19.
While the City has not moved up from the unqualified report it received in the previous year, it has actively embarked on a process of capacitating its finance unit over the past few years, which has resulted in a gradual improvement in the quality of financial statements and a reduction in compliance findings, the AG said.
The City achieved the following highlights from the audit:
- An unqualified audit for the financial year 2018/19;
- Clean Audit on financial statements;
- Incurred zero unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (for the second consecutive year);
- Irregular expenditure decreased from R215 million in the previous financial year to R5 million in the 2018/19 annual review;
- Collection rate stood at 91% for the financial year in review
- Complied with 30-days payment of invoices;
- 94.31% Capex expenditure;
- 94% Overall grant funding spending;
- R3.5 billion cash on hand for the year;
- Performed very well on cost-containment worth R138.6 million for year under review;
- Management of both water and electricity losses are below national standards;
- 70% reduction achieved in the number of non-compliance paragraphs recorded in the audit report;
- The City continues to shoulder the cost of a social package of R4 billion per annum;
Most instances of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure that were reported in previous years were subjected to an investigation to ensure that consequence management is instituted by the City against transgressors.