Media statement 19 March 2024
Office of the Executive Mayor
Early this morning, the City published its improved qualified audit report along with the audited financial statements on the City of Tshwane website to enable public scrutiny and demonstrate good fiscal governance.
With the City having received an improved audit report from the Auditor-General last week, standard practice would be for this report to form part of the broader Annual Report, which comes to Council and then goes out for public participation.
However, due to the delays that will arise in compiling the Annual Report, the Mayoral Committee has taken a decision to release the Auditor-General’s report along with the audited financial statements to the public.
A core reason for doing this is to ensure that the City meets its obligations to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange where it currently has bonds that are listed and traded. The release of these crucial documents will enable the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to inform investors and allow them the opportunity to scrutinise the City’s financial performance.
We take our obligations to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the financial markets seriously. It is critical that, as a City, we make relevant financial information available to institutional investors as such arises. Ensuring full compliance with debt listing requirements is an essential step towards improving our credit rating from rating agencies.
These reports will also be tabled to Council in its meeting of 27 March 2024 so that these can be scrutinised as the City continues to prepare and finalise the Annual Report, which provides a comprehensive analysis on all areas of performance.
As previously indicated, the City’s qualified audit opinion is an improvement from the last financial year, but more work must now be done to ensure that we secure an unqualified opinion in our current financial year. The audited annual financial statements are available for download at the following link: (https://www.tshwane.gov.za/?page_id=11042)
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