Johnathan Paoli
Opposition party EFF has claimed that the office of the Auditor-General of SA (AGSA)’s delay in releasing an outstanding audit report for the 2022/2023 year for the city of Ekurhuleni was an attempt at political sabotage.
In a statement on Thursday, the EFF’s provincial leader and Ekurhuleni’s Finance MMC, Nkululeko Dunga expressed his disappointment over what he termed as the politicisation of the office of the Auditor-General and said that the failure of releasing the report affected the Mayor’s ability to table the annual report in council.
“The AGSA appears to be struggling with the fact that the city, the only municipality whose finances are, under the capable government led by the EFF, is in order, with sound financial oversight and intact systems to ensure that taxpayer’s money is used for maximum service delivery,” Dunga said.
Dunga said the city submitted its financial statements in August 2023, in line with the Municipal Finance Management Act and that the AGSA was obligated to submit an audit report on these statements to the accounting officer of the municipality within three months of receipt of the statement.
The MMC said that it has been four months, well over the legislatively stipulated time-frame, and that there was no acceptable explanation for the delay.
Dunga said that by failing to submit the report, the AGSA was refusing the city an opportunity to peruse the report, address raised matters, engage the report, and most importantly, hold departments accountable.
“And you know in the shadows, you hear that there was a political mandate that was given to the Auditor General by the ANC to say that they must make sure the City of Ekurhuleni must not get a clean audit because the EFF will ride on it,” Dunga said.
However, the AGSA has confirmed that a report was completed and submitted on time, but that the city’s management has since raised a dispute that was delaying the tabling of the report.
The office said that despite allegations, it had a record of having successfully handled disputes fairly and carrying out its constitutional mandate impartially as well as without fear, favour or prejudice.
The City of Ekurhuleni management has described the EFF’s public statements on the matter as unfortunate and misleading.
This comes on the heels of reports of cracks in the EFF-ANC coalition governing the municipality, specifically around capital liquidity and a possible financial crisis.
Ekurhuleni council’s chief whip, ANC regional chairperson Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said that overall revenue collection remained low
“If there could be a crisis of revenue collection, the institution would not be able to fulfil some of the core service delivery obligations around water, electricity, sanitation and waste collection — that is a liquidity risk that we are sitting with,” Dlabathi said.
EFF’s Tsogoane Mashianoke dismissed the concerns and said the metro in fact experienced an improvement in its financial management.
“If we had a crisis, we would not be able to pay workers. In fact, the report we received in council indicated that the finances have improved,” Mashianoke said.
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