Maile calls on Gauteng municipalities to emulate Midvaal's track record
The Auditor-General's report for the 2022/2023 financial year showed that for the 10th consecutive time, the Midvaal municipality obtained an unqualified opinion with no findings.
Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile during a media briefing. Picture: EWN/Thabiso Goba
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government says other municipalities can learn a lot from the Midvaal Municipality, which is the only one that received a clean audit status.
The Auditor-General's report for the 2022 / 2023 financial year showed that for the 10th consecutive time, the Midvaal municipality obtained an unqualified opinion with no findings.
Gauteng treasury held a media briefing on Thursday to discuss the performance of its municipalities.
Midvaal municipality has an operating annual budget of just under R2 billion. In comparison, Gauteng's three metros have annual budgets of R50 billion.
Despite the disparities, Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile said the metros should strive to emulate Midvaal.
"It's not about the size of the budget. The rules and standards of accounting apply, whether you dealing with a billion rand or R20 million. But if you don’t apply the accounting standards properly, you will have a problem. It's actually commendable because there are municipalities their size which are not getting the same outcome," said Maile.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Midvaal has attributed the municipality’s clean record to the fact that it governs it alone, rather than in a coalition.
NOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR TEMP SHELTERS
At the same time, the Gauteng treasury said it unfortunately does not have enough money to provide temporary shelters for people living in abandoned or hijacked buildings in the province.
This after four people died in yet another fire at a hijacked building in the Johannesburg city centre.
The Johannesburg municipality has made a plea to the provincial and national governments to assist them with funds so they are able to move people out of these dangerous buildings and into safe shelters.
Maile said this was a long-standing issue that would be very expensive to solve.
"There is never enough money in the public (purse) because there is competing priorities. Everything is important, education, health, roads, housing is important, everything is important.
"So there will never be enough money so I can't say to you here is enough money to provide shelter or not but of course, we weigh and check what is more urgent and pressing at the moment and act accordingly," said Maile.