The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) recorded its 10th consecutive clean audit in the 2021/22 financial year.
The organisation confirmed this when it briefed the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) on its Annual Report 2021/22 during a virtual meeting on Tuesday.
SALGA’s annual report provides a synopsis of activities performed by the organisation between April 2021 and March 2022, whilst providing context to the governance of the organisation in relation to its role and mandate in transforming local government as an employer body through advocacy, lobbying, capacity building, support and advice, representation and strategic profile and engagement.
Some of the highlights for SALGA in the period 2021 -2022 are:
• Achieving 92% on its annual performance targets;
• Attaining a 10th clean audit in a series of 13 consecutive unqualified audits since 2009;
• Successfully contributing to labour stability by signing five multiyear collective agreements; and
• Actively lobbying for the inclusion of local government issues in amendment of key legislations (i.e., Structures Amendment Bill, Systems Amendment Bill, National Land Transport Bill) with the key objective of ensuring that progressive policies, which continue to enhance the work of local government are passed, while those that have an undesirable impact on local government are eliminated and prevented.
Sixty-one municipalities benefited from the Municipal Audit Support Programme (MASP) training and 43 from Municipal Public Accounts (MPAC) training.
Addressing the committee, SALGA President, Bheki Stofile, said: “SALGA’s 10th consecutive clean audit for the 2021/22 financial year again attested to its financial health, which is fundamental to public accountability and provides assurance about its ability to manage public funds responsibly and effectively.
“Noteworthy achievements included a Coalition Government Framework, drafted with the Dullah Omar Institute, to help political parties and councillors form and manage coalitions.”
In maintaining labour peace and stability in the sector, as well as ensuring the continuation of service delivery without interruption, the recent Collective Agreement with municipal worker unions was signed without incident or disruption to service delivery, while 7 484 councillors and traditional leaders benefitted from SALGA’s Integrated Councillor Induction Programme.
Last year marked SALGA’s 25th anniversary.
SALGA said while this was an important milestone, 2021 “was a time for reflection and an opportunity to envisage SALGA’s continued contribution to the transformation and professionalisation of local government”.
Acting SALGA CEO, Lance Joel, said: “During the past post-pandemic financial year, SALGA proved itself resilient to lingering economic shockwaves and challenging conditions.
“We achieved 57 of 62 (or 92%) of our performance targets, which is consistent with an average annual performance of 90% for the past 13 years.
“We also delivered record results that included a 34% growth in assets to R565.9 million (2020: R372.6 million) and an increase of nearly 5% in membership fees to R686 million (2020: R652.7 million).”
Joel said the focal point during the reporting period was the effective closing out of the final year of SALGA’s 2017-2022 strategic plan, reporting an outstanding performance in the full five-year period. – SAnews.gov.za
