Pretoria - Gauteng province has met all of its financial objectives and operated within its budget, said the provincial legislature on Friday.
This as the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) speaker, Lentheng Mekgwe, presided over the sitting for the tabling of the GPL Annual Report for the 2013/14 financial year.
The annual report tabling came after the legislature’s attainment of another clean audit bill in a successive year.
“According to an assessment report by the Oversight Committee on the Office of the Premier and the Legislature (OCPOL), which reviews GPL’s achievement of planned targets and completed projects against allocated budgets and timeframes, the legislature met all its financial obligations and operated within budget.
“This was achieved across all programmes and sub-programmes on all performance relating to the delivery of GPL’s Constitutional mandate of oversight, law-making, public participation and cooperative governance,” the legislature said.
GPL spent all its allocated financial resources, including the adjustment budget. One area of saving was the 20-Year Project, which came about as a result of the internal coordination of the project which realised savings on consultancy fees.
The report of OCPOL also concluded that GPL submitted the Annual Report for 2013/14 within set timeframes and complied with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and other relevant legislation and regulations.
The legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) also presented a review report on the Auditor General’s assessment of the financial statements and performance information of the Office of the Premier for the year that ended 31 March 2014.
According the report, the Auditor General issued an unqualified audit opinion with no findings on the financial statements of the Office of the Premier.
“This is a reflection that all Members of the Legislature and the administration are doing everything possible to ensure that GPL, as the body charged with the responsibility of overseeing the work of the Provincial Executive and entities, is accountable for the public resources at its disposal.
“It also provides a reflection of the quality of work conducted by Honourable Members as representatives of our people,” said Mekgwe.
The Speaker reaffirmed that GPL would continue to find innovative ways to improve participation of people with disabilities in its programmes and processes. – SAnews.gov.za
