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CITY OF EKURHULENI
Wins two awards from SALGA
The City of Ekurhuleni scooped two awards for excellence in governance during the 2nd Annual South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Municipal Audit Awards held in Johannesburg on Friday, 05 July 2024. This was after scooping four awards for excellent governance at the 2023 inaugural wards ceremony.
The awards recognized and celebrated municipalities in Gauteng for their exemplary financial management and adherence to the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) for the 2022-2023 financial year as per the Auditor general’s Report.
The awards recognized and celebrated municipalities in Gauteng for their exemplary financial management and adherence to the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) for the 2022-2023 financial year as per the Auditor general's report.
The awards promote accountability and consequence management, rewarding excellence while addressing mediocrity and mal-administration in local authorities.
Among the dignitaries and key sector stakeholders at the awards were advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, the Public Protector of South Africa and the Auditor General of SA, Tsakani Maluleke, who are both responsible for maintaining governance standards across South African public institutions.
SALGA’s approach to municipal audit outcomes has always advocated for enforcing accountability and consequence management. A carrot and a stick approach – where excellence is rewarded while mediocracy and maladministration are punished – as a strategy to turn local government around.
The City of Ekurhuleni walked away with the award for Reducing Unauthorised, Irregular, Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure, and also Implementing Consequence Management in the 2023/24 financial year.
“We are extremely excited by the achievements as they demonstrate our continued commitment to run a clean and accountable institution,” says City Manager Dr Imogen Mashazi. “A lot of work goes into financial prudence, and we are very fortunate to have team that understands that.”
The City Manager emphasised that the municipality “remains resolute to always revisit our systems and controls to ensure that we run a tight ship that is guided by the Municipal Finance Management Act among other legislation.” Adding that, “Such recognition also motivate us to do more.”
The city is not new to being recognized for its good governance achievements, having walked away with two first-place certificates for the 2021/22 financial year clean audit outcome, and for good record keeping – a critical process in the audit purposes and measuring service delivery achievements. The city then got a second-place award for capital expenditure on the allocated budget, and another second place for revenue collection and management.
“We are extremely excited by these achievements as they demonstrate our continued commitment to run a clean and accountable institution." - City Manager, Dr Imogen Mashazi.
