KwaZulu-Natal audit much improved

Pietermaritzburg - The management of finances in the KwaZulu-Natal government has improved, Auditor General Terence Nombembe said on Thursday.

“There has been an improvement. KwaZulu-Natal has no disclaimers or adverse opinion in (the) 2009/10 financial year,” he told members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in Pietermaritzburg.

He found it pleasing that three departments - community safety and liaison, provincial treasury and arts and culture - had moved from audits that were unqualified with other matters, to clean.

The agriculture department, which did well during the 2008/2009 financial year, had received a qualified report. Other departments with qualified reports this year were health, social development and public works. They had received similar outcomes in 2008/09.

Nombembe said the fact that no provincial department had received disclaimers or adverse opinions meant the province was moving in the right direction.

KwaZulu-Natal's performance put it second to the Western Cape, with seven clean audits, Nombembe said. He was pleased with KwaZulu-Natal's political leaders and commended their commitment to clean audits.

The provincial government needed to pay attention to supply chain management, where most corruption took place.

“There is a need to put internal controls to achieve clean audits.”

There was also a need to ensure proper validation of information and how it was collated to achieve clean audits, Nombembe said.

Finance MEC Ina Cronje said the provincial government would have clean audits before the 2014 deadline.

“We are working as a team to achieve that. We are putting in measures to tighten things up.”

Premier Zweli Mkhize urged officials to work towards clean audits, saying the government would fight corruption and keep expenditure within limits.