MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO ALL MEDIA HOUSES 14 SEPTEMBER 2014 Gauteng achieves record audit outcomes as it moves towards clean government A total of nineteen departments and entities achieved clean audits in the 2013/14 financial year; an indication that government is making steady progress in strengthening financial management to eliminate wasteful and unlawful usage of public funds. This is a milestone for government compared to the previous three years. It means that the five departments and three entities who achieved clean audits in 2012/13 financial year sustained these outcomes in 2013/14. In addition, one department and ten more entities improved to clean audit this year, enabling government to achieve a record nineteen clean audits in 2013/14. “This is the first time that we achieved this number of clean audits. It shows that we are an activist government that promotes clean governance and the integrity of our public institutions. This is necessary to enhance popular democracy, accelerate service delivery and maintain the public’s trust and confidence in government,” Finance MEC Barbara Creecy said. “Our people expect us to build an accountable and clean government that is able to serve them better. This is what we are focused on doing. We are a responsive people-centred government that is transparent and on the ground to improve services to the people,” she explained. These achievements have been made possible through various key initiatives. The integrity of supply chain management in departments has been enhanced by partnering with the State Security Agency to conduct comprehensive background checks on all officials who are tasked with procuring goods and services on behalf of government. Training for public officials on financial management has been enhanced to ensure full compliance with rules and regulations, and reassert the principle that government serves the people. The improvement in financial management has resulted in better service delivery. Investments in public programmes including building of roads, provision of quality of public education and healthcare services have improved to ensure the social net benefit for the people. As part of Premier David Makhura’s vision to radically transform the public service going forward, urgent measures are being introduced to enhance financial processes with the aim of detecting and preventing fraudulent activities. These include opening the tendering process to increase transparency. “We have to demonstrate, through our actions, that corruption will not be tolerated. This is important because we fully understand that the economic impact of corruption is most severe on the poor and the downtrodden in society. Corruption and bad financial management take resources away from key public programmes including social grants, education, healthcare, and safety and security,” she added. The following provincial departments achieved clean audits: • Office of the Premier • Provincial Legislature • Provincial Treasury • Social Development • Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation • Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs The following departments achieved unqualified audits: • Education • Finance • Roads and Transport • Economic Development • Community Safety • Infrastructure Development • Agriculture and Rural Development Government remains conscious of the fact that more work needs to be done in particular in those departments and entities that did not achieve good audit reports during this period. These are the Department of Health, Department of Human Settlements and G-Fleet. “The intervention team continues with its work in the Department of Health to ensure the provision of quality public healthcare services to our people. Our focus is on payment of suppliers and revenue management. We are also working to establish staffing norms to inform the process of filling vacancies and building of appropriate procedures to strengthen the health system,” MEC Creecy said. The Provincial Treasury is also working closely with the Department of Human Settlement and G-Fleet to address issues that resulted in the failure to achieve desired audit outcomes. NOTES TO EDITORS: (1) Unqualified Opinion - indicates the auditor’s endorsement of the accuracy and adequacy of the disclosed information and of the department’s financial picture as presented. (2) Qualified Opinion - may indicate a limited scope of examination, or that the auditor was unable to directly verify certain information. (3) Adverse Opinion - indicates serious problems with the audit, and can be very damaging in its effect on the department’s reputation and financial position. Ends John Sukazi MEC Spokesperson 0837724885 [email protected] For media releases, speeches and news visit the Gauteng Provincial Government’s portal at gautengonline.gov.za
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 09:40:27 +0000
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