Government’s recent pronouncements, in particular the public service administrative initiatives linked to the National Development Plan, are positive and welcomed measures that are likely to bolster public sector governance considerably when they are implemented, Auditor-General (AG) Terence Nombembe said today.

Announcing the 2011-12 audit results of national and provincial government at a media briefing with high-ranking government and parliamentary leaders as guests, Nombembe said although the set of audit outcomes for the period under review showed slow progress towards total clean administration, he was encouraged and convinced that the tangible remedial measures recently announced by the government would go a long way in addressing the public sector’s current administrative and governance deficiencies.

While commending both national and provincial government’s recent pronouncements towards improving governance, Nombembe today painted a general trend of stagnant results for both national and provincial departments, with fewer than a quarter of those audited receiving clean audit opinions and 50 unable to maintain the clean reports they received in the previous year.

Of the 536 audited entities, only 117 (22%) have received clean audit opinions. The majority of auditees are still experiencing challenges, with 297 (55%) receiving financially unqualified audit opinions with findings compared to 279 (53%) in the previous year. Seventy-four (14%) received qualified opinions, whilst an adverse opinion or disclaimer was expressed on 17 (3%) audits. Thirty-one (6%) of the audits 2 are outstanding, mainly due to the non-submission of financial statements by the relevant entities.

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