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NEWS RELEASE

DATE  :           26 JANUARY 2010

MOSSEL BAY MUNICIPALITY GETS CLEAN AUDIT REPORT

The Mossel Bay Municipality received an unqualified audit report for the 2008/2009 financial year from the Auditor-General, thereby repeating its similar achievement of the 2007/2008 financial year.

The achievement was announced on Monday, 25 January 2010, at a Special Council Meeting at which the Executive Mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira, tabled the Municipality’s 2009 Annual Report.

The Mayor said the clean audit report is the result of continued good management, excellent financial control systems and the sustained joint efforts of the Council as well as the personnel of the Municipality.

She said the Municipality, which is classified as a high capacity municipality, also maintained its reputation as one of the financially healthiest and best managed municipalities in the country.

This achievement follows the announcement in October 2009 when the Municipality was placed first out of 28 municipalities in the Western Cape and sixth out 231 local municipalities in South Africa in respect of basic service delivery.  

The clean audit reports over the past two financial years were achieved despite the compulsory implementation of the Generally Accepted Municipal Accounting Principles and the Generally Recognised Accounting Principles, which placed the Municipality’s personnel under great pressure.

In the preceding years, divergent interpretations by the Auditor-General’s Office and the Municipality about how certain housing expenditure should be reflected in the annual financial statements resulted in qualified audit reports.

The Municipality’s achievement can be placed in perspective if one looks at the Auditor-General’s General Report on the Audit Outcomes of Local Government for the 2007/2008 financial year. According to the report 17 out of the country’s 44 high capacity municipalities received unqualified audit reports. Only 88 (30,4 per cent) out of 289 municipalities country-wide received clean reports.

The Municipal Manager, Dr Michele Gratz, said that although she and her management team are proud of the achievement, it is not a negotiable for her.

“It is a reflection on management in general and financial management in particular to receive a qualified audit, and we are determined to make clean audit reports the norm at this Municipality,” she said.

Ends

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