Welcoming the report of the Auditor-General which shows improvements but also areas that require serious attention‚ President Jacob Zuma says he agrees with the AG that there should be consequences for bad management.
In an address to the National Council of Provinces on Thursday‚ he said that ministers as executive authorities running the departments had been spoke to in this regard.
The matter had been discussed extensively in the last Cabinet meeting with a view to finding solutions.
“They must ensure that officials under their management fulfill all prescripts when utilising public funds‚” Zuma said.
In most cases‚ he added‚ it was the failure to follow procedures stated in the Public Finance Management Act that was a problem and not that money had been stolen.
“Ministers will ensure that their accounting officers‚ the Directors-General‚ implement the remedial action stipulated by the Auditor-General.
We will discuss the matter with Premiers and the SA Local Government Association as well when we meet next in the President’s Coordinating Council‚” Zuma said.
He congratulated government departments that had obtained clean audits for the first time. “They have proved that it is possible to improve management systems in government.”
He added that the intensive Back to Basics programme was clearly making an impact in municipalities in financial management — as visible in the just released municipal audit outcomes for the 2013-2014 financial year.
“All provinces showed an improvement in their audit outcomes‚ with the biggest contributors to the total number of clean audits being Gauteng‚ KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
“For municipalities‚ 96% submitted their financial statements for auditing by 31 August 2014. This is a major improvement from the 78% in 2007-2008.
“The number of unqualified audit opinions on financial statements improved to 58% from 49% in the previous year‚” Zuma said.
“Under the leadership of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs‚ Government will continue and accelerate the hands-on approach.
“In the next phase of the Back to Basics approach‚ Government will work smarter and innovatively to increase impact‚” he added.
Zuma agrees there should be consequences for bad management
Welcoming the report of the Auditor-General which shows improvements but also areas that require serious attention‚ President Jacob Zuma says he agrees with the AG that there should be consequences for bad management.
In an address to the National Council of Provinces on Thursday‚ he said that ministers as executive authorities running the departments had been spoke to in this regard.
The matter had been discussed extensively in the last Cabinet meeting with a view to finding solutions.
“They must ensure that officials under their management fulfill all prescripts when utilising public funds‚” Zuma said.
In most cases‚ he added‚ it was the failure to follow procedures stated in the Public Finance Management Act that was a problem and not that money had been stolen.
“Ministers will ensure that their accounting officers‚ the Directors-General‚ implement the remedial action stipulated by the Auditor-General.
We will discuss the matter with Premiers and the SA Local Government Association as well when we meet next in the President’s Coordinating Council‚” Zuma said.
He congratulated government departments that had obtained clean audits for the first time. “They have proved that it is possible to improve management systems in government.”
He added that the intensive Back to Basics programme was clearly making an impact in municipalities in financial management — as visible in the just released municipal audit outcomes for the 2013-2014 financial year.
“All provinces showed an improvement in their audit outcomes‚ with the biggest contributors to the total number of clean audits being Gauteng‚ KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
“For municipalities‚ 96% submitted their financial statements for auditing by 31 August 2014. This is a major improvement from the 78% in 2007-2008.
“The number of unqualified audit opinions on financial statements improved to 58% from 49% in the previous year‚” Zuma said.
“Under the leadership of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs‚ Government will continue and accelerate the hands-on approach.
“In the next phase of the Back to Basics approach‚ Government will work smarter and innovatively to increase impact‚” he added.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos