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Metsimaholo gets clean audit despite challenges
Metsimaholo Local Municipality executive mayor Brutus Tshepo Mahlaku says his administration will keep pushing for improved management of the public purse and assets to ensure it is able to keep a clean audit record.
Mahlaku spoke on the back of an unqualified audit opinion that the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) issued on the Sasolburg-based local authority’s financial books for the 2013/14 year – an impressive achievement given the instability that affected the municipality during the period under review.
The municipality of about 150 000 people witnessed during the last financial year a number of service delivery protests and a strike that saw it dismissing last July 320 workers or about half of its entire workforce of around 800 people.
Mahlaku said the municipality had been able to overcome these and other challenges to achieve a clean audit thanks to the hard work and dedication of workers, the political leadership as well as staff from the AGSA that never tired from rendering support to the local authority where needed.
He said: “I want to thank each and everyone, from the local politicians, the administration, the external performance audit committee, provincial government and the office of the auditor general for their hard work and dedication towards achieving a clean audit.”
“All (residents and other stakeholders) can now rest assured that the municipality is in good and capable hands,” he added.
An unqualified or clean audit opinion means the financial statements supplied by the audited entity were a true and accurate record of its finances and were prepared in line with regulation and procedure of accounting for public funds.
The Metsimaholo achievement is made even sweeter by the fact that the local authority had received qualified opinions in the 2011/12 and 2012/ 13 financial years.
A qualified audit opinion is issued by auditors when the financial statements of the audited entity contain material misstatements in specific amounts, or there is insufficient evidence to conclude that specific amounts included in the financial statements are not materially misstated.
In a report on Metsimaholo’s books, the AGSA said they were a fair representation of the financial position of the municipality and that they complied with South Africa’s generally recognised accounting practice (GRAP) and met the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA).
The report read in part: “In my opinion (Auditor General), the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Metsimaholo Local Municipality as at 30 June 2014 and its financial performance and cash flow for the year then ended are in accordance with SA standards of GRAP and the requirements of the MFMA and the DoRA.”
Mahlaku said his administration’s objective going forward was to ensure the municipality is able to maintain a record of clean audits, adding it was only when local authorities are able to manage their finances and resources efficiently that they could ever hope to improve service delivery and tackle other challenges they face.
“The report will build confidence within our staff while also serving as proof to our communities that the municipality is actually working for them,” said Mahlaku.
He added: “We have strengthened our oversight controls and taken a zero tolerance approach to non-compliance (with financial rules, regulations and procedures), and it has proven to be effective and we have substantially reduced irregular expenditure.”
Metsimaholo takes government to people
The new multimillion rand council chambers being built in Zamdela township in the Free State Province stand to add to the growing infrastructural development of the area. The building will also bring government and its services closer to communities.
The construction of the building which started early last year, is now 95% complete and will set the municipality back a whopping R39 million when it is completed. An unannounced site progress inspection by the executive mayor of Metsimaholo Local Municipality (MLM) Brutus Mahlaku, revealed that work is going at a fast pace.
The building will first have to be handed over to the MLM by the national department of public works once completed. The mayor said the giant structure will have a special public chamber sitting where members of the community can be accommodated to be part of council meetings and observe proceedings which impact on their livelihood.
Council sittings are by law open to the members of the public.
“This building is about the realisation of the goal of bringing government closer to the people, our people can’t afford taxi fares to collect their free kilolitres of water and electricity bundles in town, so bringing such services to them will definitely stand them a good chance of saving while at the same time just walking to access services provided to them by government,” he said.
He added that despite having more than thirty offices comprising of different government departments, the council chambers will also have an electricity pay-point centre, the office of local economic development (LED). It will also house the department of human settlements and an office dealing with indigent applications for members of the community who are too poor to pay for their services.
The completion of the building will signal the end of a sad reminder, when part of the structure was violently burned by protestors who were objecting to the proposed demarcation which sought to amalgamate the nearby town of Parys into Metsimaholo Local Municipality.
The mayor conceded that the incident delayed the intended construction deadlines but added that in the end there was a renewed sense of optimism and vigour poured into the project.
“We are bringing all our critical service delivery departments closer to the people and yes for the first time people would not have to travel to town to access a host of government related services,” he said.
Metsimaholo boast a new multi-purpose centre
Metsimaholo Local Municipality has established a new multi-purpose centre for the youth and the general public in Harry Gwala section. The facility was donated by Sasol Coal as part of its social responsibility.
The municipal spokesperson, Gino Alberts, said the initiative is aimed at getting the nation to participate in sport.
“The municipality contributed to this development by making land available, and we are happy that finally our youth and sports people have a venue where they can polish their skills through training and exercises,” he said.
The structure also features a satellite police station and a fire-brigade unit to ensure accessible services for local people, who had to travel almost 20 kilometres to the nearest police station in Zamdela Township.
The multi-purpose centre is equipped with a tennis court, a netball court, a hall for conferences and events, a football play-ground, netball court and volley ball court.
There are five kiosks situated inside the centre where a variety of food stuffs and neccesities for athletes are going to be sold.
“We have made sure that we create a medical centre in this facility, we also have a talent development office to help with nurturing differing talents of our young people and channelling them accordingly,” he said.
Public works minister Susan Shabangu handed over the facility to the local municipality in March this year and will soon be fully operational. Differing sporting codes are expected to take occupation of their offices.
Alberts said this was in keeping with the municipality’s vision of a healthy citizenry with sober life habits and longer life spans that will translate in increased productivity for the area.
“The location of the fire brigade in this centre is more relevant as we approach winter season and most of the people living in the adjacent Amelia section of the township still do not have electricity and use Imbaulas and electricity stoves to warm up, leading to increased incidence of fire that needs to be responded to with speed,” he said.
He said residents experiencing any fire emergencies should not hesitate to call the station hotline on (016) 976-0945 to get a swift response.
Also housed at the multi-purpose centre will be the Social Security Agency of South Africa (Sassa) offices which will assist women to access children’s social grants, the elderly needing to apply for their old age pensions as well as the sick receiving different grant packages from Sassa.
“When we host big events in the hall there will be no security worries as the police are housed here too, and revellers can rest assured that their safety is guaranteed,” he added.
Municipality prioritizes housing
Metsimaholo Local Municipality has joined hands with the provincial department of co-operative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs to provide decent homes for the people of Zamdela.
The partnership has developed a project called the Community Residential Units (CRU), which seeks to transform the housing system in the province.
The project which is expected to cost R116-million aims to complete 96 housing units of the envisaged 392 in the first phase by the end of June. The units will be occupied by renting residents who are already on the waiting list.
The units are also meant to make way for the intended demolition of the old apartheid government single male hostels which used to house migrant workers in the township.
Metsimaholo executive mayor, Brutus Mahlaku, said apart from attending to the challenge of housing shortages, the project also helped to create a number of jobs for local people during the construction phase of the project.
“This is another good story to tell in this municipality. The units are of high standard and comprise of features never seen before in the entire country,” said Mahlaku.
He said the residential units, which come in one and two bedroom pieces, are unique in that they boast a fitted mini bar fridge, wall wardrobes, a two plate stove, have a toilet, a separate bathroom and shower. It also have floor tiles throughout and have been fitted with burglar bars on every window.
“We continue to endeavour to provide our people with their most basic needs like houses, and ensure we deliver promptly on the promise we made to them,” he said.
Once completed, the whole area housing the units will be paved, and there are plans to include playgrounds for the children of tenants. The municipality also intends to fence the units.
The units will also boast 6mm thick shatter proof windows which cannot be easily broken.
“Together we are moving South Africa forward, and as the municipality we are proud to be trendsetters in the provision of decent, modern, comfortable living spaces for the people in our area,” he said.
Mahlaku expressed satisfaction that the construction is continuing speedily and houses will soon be occupied by residents.
“The first tenants will move in just after the completion of the first phase in June, and thereafter the rest of the units will be occupied as soon as they are done,” he said.
Residents of Zamdela reacted with optimism.
Free State government tells a good story
The Free State provincial government descended on Zamdela Township, near Sasolburg today to outline government’s service delivery achievements and plans to address outstanding budgetary and capacity constraints slowing progress in other areas during a breakfast debate hosted by TNA and the SABC.
Free State MEC for cooperative governance, traditional affairs and human settlements, Olly Mlamleli, MEC for education, Tate Makgoe, director general, Kopung Ralikontsane and Metsimaholo Local Municipality executive mayor, Brutus Mahlaku, answered service delivery related questions from ordinary citizens at the townships’ multipurpose hall.
Mlamleli addressed concerns regarding the slow pace of housing delivery to mostly civil servants who do not qualify for RDP houses and are also not eligible to qualify for bank housing loans. The MEC said the provincial government is working with the Free State Development Corporation (FDC) to develop a funding vehicle for financing housing in this market.
“We know there are people who do not qualify for free government sponsored RDP houses, and at the same time they do not qualify for loans with banks, we are talking to the FDC to find a permanent solution in this regard,” said Mlamleli.
Mlamleli said the department has procured mobile trucks, which are equipped with the department’s RDP waiting list, to process applications for houses and allocate houses to people in the waiting list living in rural and far fling areas of the province where the department does not have offices.
Makgoe is adamant that his department will achieve a 90 percent matric pass rate in the 2014 Grade 12 examinations. The province topped the country with matric results last year achieving a whopping 87.4 percent pass rate.
“We are eyeing 90 percent pass rate this year, we had a quantum leap of mathematics pass percentage last year with 355 distinctions in mathematics from this province, and a 53 percent pass in the subject.
“If these students can pass like this in mathematics, there is no reason why they can’t do the same with all other subjects they get tested on,” said Makgoe
Ralikontsane said the provincial government will invest millions of rands in revamping Free State’s ageing water, electricity and sanitation infrastructure in order to improve the delivery of basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.
“We are working on consolidating all grants so that we are able to make an impact on such major projects such as infrastructure development and maintenance. Right now you have all these grants for every department, we intend to stop that, put them all together as was the intention when we came up with the Operation Hlasela integrated service delivery model,” said Ralikontsane.
Mahlaku said to demonstrate its commitment to youth empowerment and development, Metsimaholo Local Municipality has appointed youth development officers to address youth challenges in all communities within its jurisdiction.
“As is the case now, we have issued 110 bursaries to youth from this municipality to further their studies at various institutions of higher learning across the country,” said Mahlaku.
He said the municipality has set aside R350-million to, among other things, give Zamdela township an infrastructure facelift and a further R65-million for the massive electrification project of the neighbouring township of Amelia by 2015.
The briefing was chaired by SABC 2 news anchor Peter Ndoro.