PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Bitou Mayor Dave Swart has brought some festive cheer to residents in Plettenberg Bay – the municipality has achieved a clean audit from the Auditor General for the first time in six years.

To obtain a clean audit, the financial statements submitted for auditing must be free from material misstatements, incorrect statements or omitted information.

Plettenberg Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association's Steve Pattinson congratulated the municipality, specially mentioning Felix Lotter and his financial team with the achievement.

Swart said he was proud of the achievement, explaining that examples of misstatements include the incorrect or incomplete classification of incorrect values placed on assets, liabilities or financial obligations and commitments. 

He said there are also no material findings on reporting on performance objectives or non-compliance with legislation.

On various occasions, Swart had highlighted that recruiting the right people into Bitou Municipality was key to the turnaround.

While not stating it outright, he implied that the DA-led coalition in council was central to the management of the municipality's push to get its financial house in order.

"Although the audit opinions between 2018 and 2022 were all unqualified audit opinions with findings, the number of findings had increased year-on-year until 2022," said Swart. This was the period Bitou was under ANC control.

In a statement, Swart said, "With political guidance on governance provided by Bitou councillors, it has been a mammoth task led by Municipal Manager Mbulelo Memani and Financial Officer Felix Lotter and their teams, to correct all these findings in the short space of time from April 2022 when the municipal manager (Memani) joined Bitou Municipality, until the end of the financial year in June – 15 months in fact."

Pattinson said that a clean audit signals compliance with financial reporting and accounting principles.

"It does not, however, reflect on financial performance, and we (the ratepayers) still have significant concerns around how money is spent, particularly infrastructure maintenance and capital expenditure.

"Lotter was also instrumental in developing a Financial Recovery Plan, against which progress has been made.

"It is therefore very concerning that he has decided to vacate his Acting CFO position in March of next year to take up a management position in charge of Governance and Compliance.

"Once again we (Bitou) are looking for a new CFO and this ongoing lack of stability in this critical function should be of concern to both the municipal leadership and residents of Bitou," said Pattinson.

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