Mayor Mashaba shocked by City’s maladministration

27 January 2017

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba says a recent report by the auditor-general has confirmed “the rampant maladministration witnessed under the previous ANC-led government” which, he adds, is an indictment on that administration.

 

Tabling his report for the year ended 30 June 2016 during a monthly council meeting at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein on Thursday January 26, Mayor Mashaba said the City’s audit outcomes for the 2015-2016 financial year showed an overall regression compared to the previous financial year.

During 2014-2015, six out of 12 municipal-owned entities had clean audit outcomes, while only four entities achieved this feat in the 2015-2016 financial year.

Mayor Mashaba said in the current financial year, the total balance for fruitless and wasteful expenditure reached R26.2-million, compared with R7.4-million incurred in the 2015-2016 reporting period.

“Under the previous administration, a shocking lack of attention to financial management practices resulted in a failure to adequately investigate cases of unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“This left the Council unable to assess whether or not the identified expenditure could effectively be recovered. This also means that individuals implicated are yet to face investigation and possible criminal charges.

“[About] 79.72% of the total balance of fruitless and wasteful expenditure disclosed in the annual financial statement is yet to be investigated.

“Similarly, the total balance for unauthorised expenditure reached R3 417 609 000 with R2 587 000 being incurred in 2015-2016.

“Further to this, the total balance of irregular expenditure reached R1 780 532 000, up from R1 565 214 000, due to the contravention of supply chain management procedures in the City as a whole.

“[About] 69% of this irregular expenditure was only identified during the audit process and not detected by the City’s monitoring processes. This points to flaws in the City’s monitoring processes that perpetuated a culture of corruption and secrecy,” the Mayor said.

He said these findings by the auditor-general were indicative of the City’s desperate need for a competent, trustworthy and professional civil service that put the interests of residents first.

Mayor Mashba said the 33 000 City employees must be aligned to the outcomes of “our service and economic delivery agenda”.

“When our residents engage with our civil servants they must feel that they have been dealt with in a professional and caring manner. Residents must also have confidence in our intention to eradicate corruption and waste in the City. Corruption is public enemy number one in this City and we must ensure that this municipality’s funds go to those they ought to - the residents.

“As Executive Mayor, I will set the right tone at the top by insisting on credible feedback regarding good governance disciplines and exercising my oversight responsibility to ensure accountability, performance and consequence management where necessary.

“We have a long way to go but it can be done. The days of blatant maladministration in the City going unpunished have come to an end. When I came into office I promised the residents of this great City change. We are working tirelessly towards ensuring that we administer a City that our residents can be proud of,” he concluded.