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Butterworth-based Mnquma Local Municipality has made history by becoming the first-ever local municipality, under Amathole District Municipality, to receive a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General South Africa.
The local authority is also the least indebted local municipality, with a bill of R7 million as of December 31, 2022.
Mnquma Local Municipality is made up of Butterworth, Centane and Ngqamakwe towns.
The good news was shared with municipal authorities by the provincial treasury during a two-day strategic planning session of the municipality held in February.
Treasury also noted that the municipality is fully compliant with the mandatory 30-day period within which to pay service providers.
“The clean audit opinion achieved by the municipality and the fact that we are the least indebted municipality are testimonies of the stable political and administrative leadership that you have witnessed in our municipality, and put us at an advantage to do more to improve the lives of the people of Mnquma,” said Mnquma Local Municipality executive mayor, Tunyiswa Manxila-Nkamisa.
Manxila-Nkamisa added that she was very proud of the clean audit achievement, adding that it had earned the Mnquma Council a lot of respect among other municipalities around the country.
The clean audit opinion was achieved during the first term of the appointment of municipal manager Silumko Mahlasela, who was appointed as the accounting officer in 2018.
From an unqualified opinion (disclaimer), Mahlasela said that he was glad that, together with the management team, they had managed to achieve one of their major targets.
“A clean audit is testimony of good governance and functional systems within a local government sphere. It lays a fertile ground to attract investment into the municipality because it boosts investor confidence.”
“When coming into office we introduced several belt-tightening measures to stabilise the environment within the municipality. These included a skills and qualifications audit, risk-mitigating measures, and a complete overhaul of our revenue-generating systems,” said Mahlasela.
He added that the focus now shifts towards maintaining that clean audit, so that the local municipality accelerates its service delivery mandate.
According to the provincial treasury, residents and businesses in Mnquma owe the municipality R160 million in unpaid rates and services, with R104 million of this going towards residential debt.
The municipal council and the administration have agreed to enhance the municipality’s revenue collection campaign to recoup the debt which will be used to accelerate the roll-out of basic service delivery for the benefit of its residents.
The municipality is currently offering a 50 percent discount for a full settlement of debt owed.
The clean audit opinion is for the 2021/2022 financial year.
