In 2014 the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality announced that the city had received a clean financial audit for the first time in 14 years. The clean audit was described as “a mission of fulfilment” in the Executive Mayor’s speech at the council meeting on January 29.
The Democratic Alliance responded to the clean audit celebrations by saying, “a clean audit does not signify that a Municipality is corruption-free or well managed”. While the DA acknowledges that the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality (EMM) has finally received a clean financial audit, the good elements reflected in the financials are matched, if not outweighed, by some of the on-going problems which need to be addressed urgently before the Mayor and his committee can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
The main issues identified by the opposition are low collection rates, high employee-related costs, lack of infrastructure maintenance and high rates of wasteful expenditure.
