Office of the Municipality Manager
Welcome & Greetings!
In terms of Section 121 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) read together with Section 46 of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 regulates the manner in which the Accounting Officer should prepare both the Annual Report and the Annual Performance Report. In compliance with the above mentioned sections of legislation, it is indeed an honour and privilege for management to join Her Worship the Mayor, our political head, the Honourable Speaker and the entire Council to present this annual report to all our stakeholders. During the 2015/2016 financial year the Ulundi Local Municipality continued to conduct its planning and business operations in line with the five national KPA’s including the sixth provincial KPA which are as follows:
- Basic Service Delivery and Infrastructure
- Local Economic Development
- Financial Viability and Management
- Institutional Development and Transformation
- Good Governance and Public Participation
- Spatial Planning and Environmental Management
The Municipality performed its duties as required in terms of section 155 and 156 of the Constitution and Chapter 3 of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. Ulundi Municipality is a Category B Municipality with Ward participatory System.
Management would like to take this opportunity to thank to thank the Council, EXCO, the Audit Structures, MPAC, as well as staff members for their continued dedication and alertness to the work beforehand and all other external partners such as: Provincial Treasury, COGTA, the Auditor-General and other key sector partners who worked with us in 2015/2016 financial year. Ulundi Municipality in the previous financial year 2014/2015 received an unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis. It is with hope that this financial year’s assessment will yield excellent results.
Although I assumed office in March 2016, having concluded the Engagement Letter with the Auditor General for the year under review, having had sufficient opportunity to become fair with the financial standards and norms in a municipal environment and being vest with the Accounting Officer’s responsibilities and approval as outlined in page 3 of the Annual Financial Statements as submitted herewith. I can say with certainty that there is general improvement in the financial environment of a municipality as evidenced by the comparative disclosure in grants management.
There is still some work in regards to the electricity fretanity, especially the distribution losses that are currently sitting at 33% as compared to the norm of about 7%. Addressing the overall electricity revenue deficiencies is an ongoing process, with the municipality having enlisted the Treasury intervention in terms of Section 44 of the MFMA. I have taken the matter a step further by seeking independent Engineering and Accounting opinions regarding validity of the municipality’s claim to Eskom and while KPMG is still engaged in the process of audit and verification of historical facts, the Engineering independent report is submitted and contained in the Contingent Asset File. Otherwise, should an advice be adverse especially by KPMG the resolution taken by Council to do away with the electrical function will be revisited.
The Minister of Finance promulgated Government Gazette No. 37577 dated 22 April 2014: Municipal Regulation on Standard Chart of Accounts.
This reform is to provide a National Standard for uniform recoding and classification of Municipal Budget and financial information at a transactional level this will improve compliance with budget regulations and compliance with budget regulations and accounting standard and better inform National Policy co-ordination and reporting, benchmarking and performance measurement.
The Municipality is currently in the process of ensuring that by the 1 July 2017 it fully complies with the MSCOA regulations as required where upon committees have been established and trained together with the extended Management Committee. System vendors are in the process of data migration so as to ensure parallel running of the systems by January 2017.
Ulundi Municipality has established a Risk Management Unit from the 1st of July 2015 with a Senior Manager as the Head of the Unit and the Risk Manager in response to challenges as raised in the Risk Management Review for 2014/2015 financial year. The major risks were identified for the financial year under review and a Risk Register was compiled and was updated on a quarterly basis by the Unit.
In conclusion management hereby presents the 2015/2016 Draft Annual Report as a reflection of all the activities that were carried out by Ulundi Local Municipality during the year under review.