The Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms. Sylvia Lucas, today expressed concern on the release of the 2014-15 Provincial Financial Management Act (PFMA) audit outcomes because it shows a regression from the previous results. All is however not lost because although the result was not as expected there are some positives that can be taken away from the 2014-15 audit outcomes.

It should be noted that although there is a regression in the unqualified audits with no findings; the Province maintained the trend of having no disclaimers and the Departments that were unqualified had minimal findings because in most instances these decreased. The Province prides itself in the fact the Department of Education that has the largest share of the Provincial budget (36%) showed major improvement and obtained an unqualified audit with findings.

Eight out of 13 departments received unqualified audit opinions. That translates to 62% of the Provincial Government Departments. On analysis of aforementioned, 6 received unqualified audit outcomes with findings and two namely the Department of Social development and the Department of Environment and Nature Conservation received clean audits. Seven government entities were also audited, with the Northern Cape Tourism Authority receiving a clean audit and the Kalahari Kid Corporation, Northern Cape Gambling Board and the Northern Cape Liquor Board receiving unqualified audit opinions with findings.  The Northern Cape Fleet Management also saw a major improvement from last year in that it received an unqualified audit with findings.

Ms. Lucas also welcomed the fact that the Auditor General expressed major improvements in our Performance reports and commended and at the same time encouraged administrators to build on this achievement. She recommitted herself, the Executive and the Provincial Administration to exercise accountability and compliance in the execution of their duties. Greater oversight will be exercised by the Executive and regular monitoring exercises will be conducted to assess progress on the resolutions made on improving the audit outcomes.

Ms. Lucas thanked the Auditor General for his frank and honest assessment and also thanked the Departments for all their hard work and efforts in ensuring that the Northern Cape Provincial Administration remains an accountable government that can be trusted with the taxpayers’ monies.

Ms. Lucas concluded by stating that, “We are still standing firm about not regressing in the coming year because we are encouraged by the fact that no department for the third year in a row has been disclaimed. She went further to state that, “We will continue to work towards improvements in delivering good and quality services to the people of the Northern Cape within the confines of the financial management prescripts and ensure transparency and better accountability.”

Released by the Spokesperson to the Premier

Contact: Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams, 083 447 6586, 
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