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The Citizen reports that the SA Local Government Association (Salga) has called on municipalities that paid more than R1 billion to consultants for financial reporting to pay back the money or face the wrath of the law.
The association, which represents SA’s local authorities, said in a statement that municipalities across the country had paid more than R1.2 billion to consultants, which they hired to audit their books before they were sent to the office of the auditor-general (AG). This despite municipalities having appointed chief financial officers or charted accountants for similar work. “There is a worrying and growing trend for the use of consultants in municipalities for financial reporting purposes. Yet some of the municipalities using consultants have nothing to show for it,” the association indicated in a statement. About 59% (102) of financials submitted for auditing included material misstatements. “This means that even when they hired consultants, these municipalities could not complete financial statements. This practice of using consultants for financial reporting must be stopped as it yields no results. Salga will again be writing to all municipalities implicated to conduct investigations and act against any wrongdoing. Where nefarious intentions are found, people must be held to account,” the association warned. Salga said on Monday that 43 letters had been sent to the accounting officers of the municipalities that had incurred the highest amounts of irregular expenditure.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Japho Matlala at The Citizen
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