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North West Gambling Board bears clean administration torch as the rest of the provincial auditees remain the same and in some instances, regress

The North West Gambling Board has improved its previous year’s audit outcomes to receive the province’s only clean audit opinion for 2011-12.

The Board’s exemplary results, Auditor-General Terence Nombembe says, are commendable as they prove beyond doubt that clean administration is achievable where there is leadership commitment.

The Board’s management made a concerted effort to resolve audit matters raised in the previous year’s audit report. This resulted in the Board’s (audit) outcomes moving from an audit verdict of unqualified with findings in the previous year to a clean audit opinion in the current year. The Board furthermore ensured that they submitted a complete set of financial statements that required no material adjustments during the audit process.

Regrettably, for the rest of the province the results are not that exemplary. Overall, the provincial audit outcomes have regressed, with 64% of departments and 76% of entities receiving either a qualified or a disclaimed audit opinion.

Auditor-General (AG) Terence Nombembe said although his office was aware of the provincial government’s efforts in removing impediments to total clean administration, he had hoped Premier Thandi Modise would use her 2013 State of the Province Address to highlight the internal control measures already put in place and rally public servants to improve governance systems.

Chief amongst the impediments that have seen the provincial administration failing again to move closer to the desired blanket clean audit opinion are the same as those flagged in the previous year’s audit reports.

These include leadership instability; slow filling of critical leadership vacancies; inadequate competencies and skills at key levels; non-implementation of action plans and recommendations made by internal and external auditors; poor performance management at the departments; and failure to prepare monthly financial statements. To rectify these, there needs to be proactive leadership and vigilant oversight mechanisms.

Amongst other commitments made in response to the 2010-11 audit recommendations, the provincial leadership undertook to conduct a skills audit and fill all key vacancies with competent personnel; ensure monthly preparation of financial statements and performance information; review policies and procedures; set up quarterly engagements between the members of the executive council (MECs), portfolio committee chairpersons and audit committees; and ensure that MECs attend monthly meetings aimed at addressing internal key controls in their portfolios.

Nombembe says while the commitment to meet monthly with officials from his office (to address internal controls) was honoured, the impact of these meetings was limited due to the late or non-implementation of key interventions committed to in 2010-11.

Despite provincial leadership’s commitment to attract and retain key skills in the province, the lengthy process of finalising employee suspensions and the lack of implementation of recommendations arising from the skills audit hampered these efforts.

The five biggest departments (Education, Public Works, Health, Human Settlements and Social Development) received qualifications. The Office of the Premier, which is meant to set the benchmark in the province in terms of good governance and to lead by example, also remained qualified.

The departments and entities that received qualified opinions represent 91% (R22 billion) of the total expenditure of the province.

The AG reiterated his office’s commitment to assisting auditees, highlighting that following the launch of government’s Operation Clean Audit in July 2009, he had introduced regular engagements with municipal, provincial and national political leaders to share his office’s assessment of key controls in the areas mentioned above and to identify threats to clean audits.

These engagements helped to create greater awareness of matters that require urgent attention to realise clean administration in all spheres of government.

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