NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TUESDAY, 19 MARCH 2019

Page: 28

reported that from the 2014-15 financial year to the current one, the excess audit fees to be drawn from the National Treasury's Vote have been a lot higher than the amount appropriated to these financially distressed municipalities and small state institutions and thus there have been shortfalls over the past five financial years. It has also been observed that the total amount of excess audit fees has been unpredictable and thus made it difficult to provide accurate funding for the purpose of meeting the payable audit fees to the office of the Auditor-General on behalf of the distressed municipalities and other small institutions.

Firstly, the ANC proposes that the excess audit fees be payable to the office of the Auditor-General annually and thus avoid the accumulation over a long period. Secondly, it also proposes that municipalities which have potentially large revenue be capacitated urgently to be able to collect revenue from the consumers of the municipal services so that they are able to pay their audit fees. Thirdly, where municipalities have a poor revenue base, sufficient funds be made available in every