ELM cuts wasteful spending, earns praise for financial reforms
Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) won a third-place runner-up award for managing to reduce the 2023/24 financial year's unauthorised, Irregular, Fruitless, and Wasteful Expenditure (UIFW) by 44%.
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) 3rd Annual Municipal Audit Awards were held in Johannesburg on May 30.
The award signifies tireless work done by ELM towards attaining a clean audit by reducing financial transactions that violate the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and other procurement legislation.
According to ELM spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni, for the municipality, the award is not just an accolade, but an encouragement to improve financial management for progressive audit outcomes and service delivery. Reflecting on winning the award, Municipal Manager April Ntuli said ELM is proud to be considered part of municipalities that are committed to financial sustainability and the provision of improved services for consumers.
'I would like to thank the council and its committee for taking a bold decision to deal with all historical UIFW that was accumulating yearly and hampering service delivery for the people of Emfuleni.
'Notwithstanding the financial situation confronting the municipality regarding the high rate of unemployment and the impact it has on payment for services and the overall service delivery, ELM remains committed to being transparent and prudent on how it spends money meant for service delivery programs,' said Ntuli.
In a statement, Sangweni said the municipality is aware that the community has lost trust in us and will only be happy when the award is supported by an improved commitment to service delivery.
'Part of the service delivery challenges we have is that of fleet; to mitigate this, the municipality has embarked on a project to improve fleet availability through leasing. This will assist with securing a significantly higher number of vehicles as opposed to outright purchasing,' he said.
'To ensure that the SALGA award is not in vain and that we perform better in the next financial year, the municipality is currently rolling out the installation of electricity meters and concluding the debt rehabilitation campaign in high hopes of improving revenue collection. The municipality is calling on all account holders to pay for services to improve the quality of life in Emfuleni,' he added.
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