Dear Speaker Wildeman,
Subsequent to our letter dated 22 March 2021, we received the attached two documents from Councillor Swart.
However, the attached documents, authored by the Municipal Manager and Mayor’s Office Manager do not align with the Grants-in-Aid expenditure reported in the 2019/20 Draft Annual Report and appear to be incomplete.
|
Grants-in-Aid Expenditure by year |
Expenditure reported in memo from Office of the Mayor |
Actual Expenditure reported in Draft Annual Report Financial Statements (pg 213) |
|
2018/19 |
R1,159,000 |
R2,644,730 |
|
2019/20 |
R1,100,000 |
R3,147,556 |
|
2020/21 |
R1,300,000 |
R3.7 m to date as of Feb 2021 |
The municipality is required under the MFMA to report the expenditure in the Annual Report. Comparing the Annual Report to the attached memos, the figures in the Municipal Manager’s and Mayor’s Office Manager’s memos are grossly under-stated.
We have also found that the Grants-in-Aid policy posted on the Bitou website is a DRAFT dated 2016. As you know, without a valid policy the councillors are taking decisions in the dark.
The MFMA requires beneficiaries of the fund to provide monthly statements and year-end audited financial statements to the Accounting Officer. The attached letter from the Municipal Manager states the statements have been received. Please table same with the expenditure report as we are concerned expenditure is not being properly reported and could potentially constitute serious financial misconduct.
We look forward to your confirmation that this report will be tabled in Council shortly.
Kind regards,
Peter Gaylard
Chairman
