Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink leading the City’s revenue collection and disconnection drive. File: Jacques Naude/ Independent Newspapers
The City of Tshwane is vying to clinch an unqualified audit report for the current financial year as part of addressing challenges raised by the Auditor-General (AG) in the previous audit reports.
This was expressed by Mayor Cilliers Brink, who reflected on the work done under his leadership since he assumed office in March last year.
Under his predecessor, Randall Williams, the municipality received its first-ever adverse audit report since its establishment.
The municipality registered an improvement in the 2022/2023 financial year when it received a qualified audit report.
Brink said: “The 2023 audit report from the AG shows an improvement from 2022’s adverse finding to this year’s qualified audit report. We acknowledge that more work must be done to ensure that we secure an unqualified opinion in this current financial year.”
He expressed confidence that the measures put in place by his administration to respond to the AG’s findings were working.
“This includes far more rigorous oversight by the mayoral committee on rebuilding systems and controls to improve financial performance and to deliver value for taxpayers’ money,” he said.
He highlighted that the City has been able to relaunch the aggressive revenue-collection campaign called #TshwaneYaTima, targeting defaulting customers.
The City, he said, has allocated additional resources to address the challenge of billing inaccuracies and ensure that billing disputes were dealt with effectively.
“We have made it possible that everyone gets a bill, if not online, then on their phones. We have put a solid financial rescue plan in place to increase revenue collection and reduce expenditure so that we stabilise the city’s finances,” Brink said.
Under his administration, the City started a process to secure alternative ways of producing and procuring energy, independent of Eskom.
He said a council-approved report, to lease both the Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations, marked a milestone in getting the City closer to generating 1 000 megawatts.
The upgrading of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant, he said, was a top priority for the multiparty coalition government.
The problem of dirty water being supplied to Hammanskraal residents has been attributed to lack of capacity at the Rooiwal plant to purify wastewater.
Brink said: “The Rooiwal water treatment plant has now been handed over to a project management team to conclude on phase one of the upgrades at the plant; this is significant progress and occurred during this month.”
The City, he said, was working with the Department of Water and Sanitation, the National Treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to resolve the water challenges in Hammanskraal.
“The City has allocated R450 million towards upgrading Rooiwal over a three-year period. The first R150m is allocated towards the finalisation of the current phase 1 upgrades, and we have ensured that the next round of funding is prioritised in our recently approved draft budget,” he said.
Under his watch, the City has been able to appoint all section 56 senior managers.
“Our administration has brought stability to the Tshwane council. As a coalition, we are able to vote as a bloc and pass important reports to benefit Tshwane residents,” Brink said.
Pretoria News
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