GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) achieved a clean audit for the 2020/2021 financial year. A clean audit is an unqualified audit opinion, with no findings, issued by the Auditor-General (AG) during its audit on financial statements, annual performance report and compliance to legislation.

This outstanding achievement confirms that the GRDM has spent the public funds according to the applicable laws, regulations and policies.

Nine months ago, GRDM reported that it had missed a clean audit because of one finding. However, the municipality has gradually addressed all the issues that the AG raised in the past while enhancing its financial management ethos at all levels of the organisation. 

"We have instilled a culture of sound financial management, prudent financial choices, efficiency and accountability," said Municipal Manager Monde Stratu. "We will do our very best to retain a clean audit for years to come and not to drop our standards."

Municipal Manager Monde Stratu

The re-elected district mayor, Memory Booysen, said that although South Africa faces a challenging economic situation, those in the Garden Route and investors can be assured that the municipality remains committed to good governance.

Booysen said he hopes that this achieve-ment will inspire other municipalities in the Garden Route to do better and improve governance. He particularly mentioned Dr Adele Potgieter, independent member and chairperson of the Audit and Performance Audit Committee (Apac), and her team for the oversight they provided on the municipality's financial reporting process. 

Other members of Apac at GRDM include Advocate Derick Block, Geoff Stenekamp and Suren Maharaj. In addition, the chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee, Councillor Clodia Lichaba, and fellow councillors who exercised oversight over the executive functionaries of the council, received a good word from Booysen.

Chief Financial Officer Jan-Willem de Jager

Pivotal role

Chief Financial Officer Jan-Willem de Jager and Strategic Manager Thembani Loliwe also played a pivotal role in ensuring that the GRDM achieved a clean audit. They worked hand in hand to ensure the municipality's operational clean audit report (OPCAR) was implemented in response to the AG management reports from the previous financial years. 

"Various controls had to be put in place to ensure that the AG did not find similar issues as last year," said Loliwe. "To mention just one example of control improvement, during the 2017/18 financial year, procurement through the supply chain deviation process was valued at more than R23 000 000 and in the 2020/21 financial year, that amount has reduced to less than R2 000 000, which is a result of thorough control interventions."

De Jager said the AG focused on bulk infrastructure, supply chain management, and financial statements. "This year, we had no findings on procurement."

Stratu said the GRDM remains committed to ensuring that it has all preventative controls in place and that good governance, as organisational culture, will continue for years to come. 

"The audit outcome is, therefore, a result of a concerted effort by all officials to ensure that good governance and sound financial management remain at the heart of what we do at the municipality."

Strategic Manager Thembani Loliwe

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