Latest audit outcomes shows progress in Tshwane, says mayor

The report, which is yet to be tabled in the council, gave the city a qualified audit opinion.

The qualified audit means that the financial statements contained material misstatements that were not correct before the financial statements were published.

Last year, the metro was crippled by a prolonged municipal workers' strike,  a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, and various other service delivery issues. .

In February, the City asked the National Treasury to not cut R629 million in funding after it failed to spend the money earmarked for urban development, public transport improvement and upgrading informal settlements.

The city has also been on a revenue collection drive targeting defaulting businesses in the capital.

Brink said the measures put in place to respond to the auditor-general’s findings are working.

"This includes far more rigorous oversight by the mayoral committee on rebuilding systems and controls in order to improve financial performance and to deliver value for taxpayers’ money.

"The city manager also made the right call, on the advice of the Audit and Performance Committee, to seek permission to submit the  city’s financial statements somewhat later."

Brink said the next goal is to obtain an unqualified audit in the current financial year, which comes to an end in June 2024.

"Although a qualified audit outcome is still negative, it represents a significant improvement in governance. In short, what we are doing is working. If we continue in this direction, our next audit will at least be unqualified."

"At the outset we knew that an unqualified or clean audit would not be possible straight after the 2022 adverse finding."

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