Only five percent of local government entities in Gauteng received clean audits, according to the Auditor General's latest report.
|||Johannesburg - Only five percent of local government entities in Gauteng received clean audits, according to the Auditor General's latest report.
Terence Nombembe's report on Gauteng, released on Monday, showed problems in the country's biggest economic hub.
Seventy percent of municipal entities in Gauteng received unqualified audits with findings.
Twenty-four percent of the province's municipalities received qualified audit reports without findings.
The City of Johannesburg was the only metro in the country to receive a qualified audit opinion in the 2010/2011 financial year.
Nombembe highlighted problems with the city's current assets and revenue collection. These were the same problems identified by the AG in the previous financial year.
Of Gauteng's 15 municipalities and 27 entities, there were only two clean audits - the Johannesburg Civic Theatre and Johannesburg Social Housing Company.
Municipalities in Gauteng had R259 million in unauthorised expenditure. Irregular expenditure shot up from R203 million in the previous financial year, to R781 million.
However, there was some improvement, with none of the audited entities receiving disclaimers this year - while seven percent did in the previous financial year.
Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said the provincial government had already taken action to tackle problems identified during the audit process. This included training officials.
“I'm sure that Johannesburg will not be in the same situation in the next audit,” Mokonyane said.
She said a forum had been set up in which finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe and local government and housing MEC Ntombi Mekgwe would make submissions on how to fix the problems.
Mekgwe announced that 550 officials were being trained in financial management. - Sapa