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Editorial:Can we believe the Auditor-General?

Nie Cele

Nie Cele

How city council obtained an unqualified clean audit report for the third year in a row is a mystery and it’s high time the country’s Auditor-General Terence Nombembe gave us an explanation.

Considering what opposition parties reveal on a daily basis about the state of affairs in city council, it’s hard to believe the glorious picture Nombembe paints.

You see, with their crafty hit and run explanations, accountants are much like lawyers.

For instance, Nombembe slaps council with a clean audit report, with some issues that require further attention. No explanation on these issues is given and journalists are left with not a clue as to how serious they might be.

Perhaps city council might go broke in the next few months, who knows? And any probing is rendered useless by the pat reply the clean audit report affords. Raise a question on overspending and unauthorised expenditure, such as the earth-shattering millions spent by council on the 2009 Miss World, and the mayor’s smug reply is that the financial controls are clean as verified by the Auditor-General. End of story.

The statement effectively puts an end to further investigation and any hopes of a juicy story.

Advice, Mr Nombembe, please explain to the public at large, who endure inept, or total lack of, service delivery day in and out, how you conduct your audit report, so that you can be grilled until you’re blue in the face and every detail is out, finish and klaar.

citybeat@caxton.co.za

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