Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink has vowed to tackle the city's financial woes head-on, saying the adverse audit for the 2021/22 financial year had come as a shock and wake-up call.
Brink said for many residents, the audit had confirmed their own experience of deteriorating service delivery and a sense that, like the rest of the country, the capital city was failing.
“The response by the city’s multiparty coalition government has not been to paper over the cracks or to deny the problem, but to face it head-on. Even as this has contributed to political instability in the city, it has also given us the chance for a clean-out and a restart,” he said.
Brink said since his election, he has set out to assess the level of service delivery, the state of infrastructure, the financial situation, the organisational culture that pervades the municipal administration and the capabilities of management.
“While my mayoral committee and I have prepared an adjustment budget, a review of the integrated development plan, the draft budget for the next financial year, conducted public participation and held internal management meetings, we have also tried to visit as many communities as possible.”
Brink said the city was unlikely to achieve a clean or even an unqualified audit for the present financial year.
“It is especially the auditor-general’s findings on the valuation and classification of the city’s property, plant and equipment that will take more than one financial year to redress,” he said.
The mayor added he, the city manager and the MMC for finance had met the auditor-general’s office to discuss what the city’s administration and political leadership needed to do to ensure they build the systems and controls to achieve at least an unqualified audit for the next financial year starting on July 1.
“The adverse audit received for the 2021/22 financial year was the result of misrepresentations made by the former CFO of the city, but also an unjustified confidence placed in the then management of the city to provide clear, coherent and accurate information,” said Brink.
While the adverse audit finding was devastating for the city, in one sense it was perhaps exactly the medicine the city needed, compelling us to face truths and make bold decisions that have long been avoided
— Cilliers Brink, Tshwane mayor
The mayor said he and the mayoral committee were taking a far more rigorous approach, and had established an executive audit tracking committee to monitor the progress of the city’s administration in response to the auditor-general’s findings.
“While the adverse audit finding was devastating for the city, in one sense it was perhaps exactly the medicine the city needed, compelling us to face truths and make bold decisions that have long been avoided,” he said.
“The mayoral committee and I are fully committed to getting us out of an adverse audit opinion. But I also have to caution that doing so will take time, strong leadership, clear accountability and consequence management directed towards officials who fail to support us in this objective.
“These two objectives will be top of mind in the new financial year, ensuring financial sustainability and addressing our audit findings. A stronger audit environment means better fiscal discipline and vice versa. With the right controls in place we can make significant progress towards both of these goals,” Brink said.
He said his approach would be to look reality in the face, make a full disclosure to the people of Tshwane on the state of financial and institutional dysfunction in the city, and be clear about the steps that need to be taken to secure the city’s long-term financial sustainability.
“Our focus must return to the basics of local government, in short water, electricity, waste collection, sewage, roads, public lighting and safety, and finding sustainable ways of delivering these services and securing the infrastructure through which they are provided.”
Brink added if they wanted to build a capital city that works for all its people, one where no one is left behind, then they must “first get real”.
“We must get real about our finances, our infrastructure, the state of basic service delivery, the insecurity of our assets and the performance of our staff.”
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