'AG report not GOOD' - Saptoe

GEORGE NEWS - On the very same day former traffic chief Donovan Saptoe entered a settlement with George Municipality, Saptoe published his thoughts on the Auditor-General's (AG) unqualified audit report (clean audit) for George.

An unqualified audit is quite a feather in the municipality's cap, but Saptoe, who represents the Good Party in George Council, recons it is not well deserved. (The settlement agreement covered in a separate article.)

"As Good we are distancing ourselves from such a report and will write to the AG to query how they were able to arrive at such an outcome. This on the backdrop of a number of known issues within the George Municipality," reads his statement issued last Friday, 11 February.

Asked for comment on these accusations, spokesperson at the Auditor-General of South Africa (Agsa) Africa Boso said they have not received any formal correspondence on these matters. "If received [correspondence], a response will be sent to the writer directly," said Boso.

ALSO READ: Final chapter in Saptoe Saga

According to Saptoe the AG is well aware of all the section 106 investigations that are currently underway, that implicate a number of staff members and councillors. He also notes that the town had no speed cameras for a year. "The poles stood empty with no cameras inside. That resulted in a loss of income of about R10-million."

Saptoe said over R5-million was spent on training traffic officers, but they are never appointed in the positions.

"On top of that, we had a non-functional audit committee, of which the AG was not informed."

Mayor Leon van Wyk commented that Saptoe is unfortunately distorting the truth. "The Section 106 reports implicating various officials and councillors, which Cllr Saptoe refers to, need to be investigated further as required in terms of legislation," said Van Wyk. "However, they refer to alleged incidents which took place before 2020 and do not pertain to the year under review. The outcome of these investigations is awaited but are in any event irrelevant to the 2020/2021 financial year for which a clean audit was obtained."

Audit committee

Van Wyk said the audit committee is perfectly functional, met with the Auditor-General and have met all legislative requirements. "The only matter concerning the audit committee ever raised by the AG was in 2019 due to Cllr Saptoe's wife serving on the audit committee while he was an employee of the municipality," said Van Wyk.

"This was a conflict of interest. Perhaps Mr Saptoe is confusing the AG's concerns with the audit committee of 2019 with the present one. The audit committee report was contained in the annual report which was submitted to council."

Uncollected fines

Van Wyk said it is interesting that Saptoe ventures into the arena of the uncollected traffic fines.

"The previous camera tender lapsed during May 2020. All permanent cameras were in place until this date. The former traffic chief, who was Mr Saptoe himself at the time, failed to ensure that the tender specifications were prepared and advertised before the end of the contract. Interim measures were put in place on 1 July 2020 with a different service provider whilst the new tender process commenced."

Van Wyk said the traffic wardens who have undergone voluntary training were provided an opportunity to upskill themselves should vacancies arise in George or elsewhere in the country. "Acquiring a qualification does not automatically lead to an appointment," he said.

"Traffic officers, as in the case of all municipal positions, can only be appointed if there are existing vacancies and funding available. Employees who have the necessary qualifications and experience may apply for positions internally or externally."

The full statement by Good Councillor Donavan Saptoe: 11 February 2022

GOOD distances itself from questionable A-G Report

The council meeting of 31 January 2022 has accepted the Auditors-General (A-G) Report in which George has received an unqualified Audit Report. In other words a so called clean audit.

As GOOD we are distancing ourselves from such a report and will write to the A-G to query how they were able to arrive at such an outcome. This on the backdrop of a number of known issues within the George Municipality.

It is concerning that the A-G did not seem to take into account the section 106 investigation which implicates a number of staff members and councillors.

It is also concerning that the A-G was not informed of a non-functional auditing committee of which non-compliance in terms of section 165 MFMA was raised but ignored during the council meeting.

It was highlighted by GOOD during deliberations that council is not in compliance into section 165 of the MFMA and that the report to council is lacking the oversight report from the audit committee.

George Municipality has lost the income of Permanent Speed Cameras not operating for more than a year resulting in almost a R10m loss to council, but to date no person has been held accountable and the A-G has not made a finding with regard to the loss of income.

Council has spent millions in training a number of traffic wardens as traffic officers but to date not one of those trained as traffic officers has been utilised in a traffic officers capacity resulting in a further loss of income. To date no person has been held accountable.

There has been staff suspensions for long periods of time, irregular appointments, serious loss of income, section 106 investigations and yet there is a so called clean audit.

As GOOD we are committed to truthful reporting.

Mayor Leon van Wyk