The Auditor-General, has, once again given the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature a clean bill of health by awarding it a second consecutive clean audit for the 2021/2022 financial year.

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Speaker, Nontembeko Boyce, said the audit outcome means that, for two successive financial years, the legislature has continued to prudently manage its resources and in a manner, that benefits the people of the province.

Boyce attributed the successive clean audit to the institution’s officials who had heeded the call for the legislature to lead by example.

“When we began the sixth administration in 2019, we sat with our management and emphasised that it was fundamentally important for them to exercise vigilance to ensure good governance standards were adhered to.

“The political leadership did not only make a clarion for management to ensure that it handled the public purse with care and implements legislature programmes effectively, but it also ensured that it worked closely with management to ensure that our vision was implemented," Boyce said.

Boyce said she is pleased that the legislature managed to execute its mandate of playing oversight over government departments and public education with distinction even during marathon COVID-19 lockdowns.

Boyce noted that when the pandemic struck, the legislature quickly moved towards digital platforms to ensure that its work was not disrupted.

“We organised the requisite IT (Information Technology) infrastructure to ensure that everyone had access to virtual platforms. That meant that all management meetings, committee meetings, house meetings were done online.

“We also developed ICT (Information and Communications Technology) mechanisms which ensured that our public participation mandate was not affected. We did this by making sure that the public was able to participate in our online programmes without paying even a cent,” the Speaker said.

She also commended the Office of the Auditor General for its continued support and guidance, which made it possible for the legislature to achieve its set targets.

Secretary to the legislature, Nerusha Naidoo, said the institution continue to excel because the political leadership continuously encouraged management to commit themselves to high standards of integrity and ethical values.

Source: South African Government News Agency