Sihle Zikalala, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, has reiterated his office’s commitment to strengthening the state’s capacity and capability to become an ethical developmental state that is able to strongly support the goal of transparent and accountable government that spends taxpayer money responsibly.
Zikalala made the comments in response to the announcement that the Office of the Premier had received a clean audit from the Office of the Auditor-General (AG) for the fiscal year that ends in March 2022.
According to Zikalala, the administration has accomplished a great deal as a result of the clean audit and has shown a steadfast dedication to clean government.
“We applaud the Office of the Premier’s administration for this outstanding accomplishment.
It is the result of the Office of the Premier team’s perseverance, devotion, and commitment to setting an example for others.
“The current emphasis is on maintaining the clean audit and converting it into clean governance.
Nothing less than a clean audit should be considered a success for all state-owned businesses and government agencies, according to Zikalala.
Zikalala has fought for better audit outcomes for the past three years in collaboration with Dr. Nonhlanhla Mkhize, Director-General at the Office of the Premier.
The interventions included, among other things, addressing significant non-compliance issues brought up by the AG, as well as enhancing service delivery and reducing irregular, wasteful, and pointless expenditure.
The development of an Audit Improvement Plan to adequately address all non-compliance relating to Supply Chain Management (SCM), contract management, and any other issues that gave rise to irregular expenditure was one of the high-level improvement measures adopted by his office over the years, according to the Premier.
The Premier added that the interventions were put in place to enhance the overall control environment and prevent the repetition of unfavourable audit findings.
The Office of the Premier will continue to strengthen the state’s capacity and capability to become an ethical developmental state that is able to provide strong support to the objective of clean and accountable government that spends every cent of taxpayers’ money responsibly as part of the fulfilment of its transversal role.
This is what the people of KwaZulu-Natal demand, and this province is still committed to providing it, Zikalala said.