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The Democratic Alliance (DA) can today reveal that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality received an unqualified audit opinion for the 2022/2023 financial year – this is the first time in more than a decade that the Metro received an unqualified report after 11 consecutive qualified audit opinions.

The Auditor-General gave this thumbs up opinion on the financial management of the DA and its coalition partners who governed the City for more than two thirds of the financial year in question. This multi-party coalition, the biggest and most complicated that has ever been put together in South Africa,  took over the reins of government in September 2022 and brought with it improved service delivery, financial prudency, and a crackdown on corruption.

The favourable audit result achieved by that administration once again proves that complicated coalition governments can work for the people of South Africa.

One of the most crucial aspects of good governance is the fact that a professional environment must be created for administrators to do their jobs free from political meddling, interference and within a sound policy environment. This is one of the most critical aspects of rebuilding government institutions that have been destroyed by the ANC and has been a part of the blueprint of DA governance. As such, the DA also wants to take the opportunity to thank NMB CFO, Mr Selwyn Thys, for his commitment in trying to resolve the myriad of audit problems NMB had in the past.

To ensure that we could make strides in good governance and financial prudence, the multi-party coalition made the following interventions:

• Reintroduced the Budget Monitoring Forum.
• Reintroduced the Revenue Enhancement Committee.
• Lowered punitive water tariffs from tariff “D” to tariff “C”.
• Wrote-off more than a billion in irrecoverable water debt.
• Unblocked projects and eventually achieved highest grant funding and Capital Expenditure spending in four years.
• Made sure the Metro met of all its legislative obligations.
• Convinced National Treasury to second an official to Supply Chain.
• Updated and reworked various policies which included the ATTP-policy.

Since the ANC/EFF/NA/PA coalition took over the government of the Metro on 26 May 2023 service delivery failure and financial instability have been rife. These issues are a result of the systemic corruption and political interference which have crippled the institution rendering it incapable of performing some of its most basic functions.

This unqualified audit once again proves that a multi-party coalition with the DA at its centre is the only solution to rescue Nelson Mandela Bay and ensure service delivery, clean governance, and financial stability.

Issued by Cllr Retief Odendaal - DA NMB Caucus Leader