The famous author and leadership thought leader Steven Covey is credited with the quote, “If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting”. In other words, unless we embrace periodic change and resetting, we are unlikely to change the trajectory, and by implication, the results or outcomes. The Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) was formed in 2003, and 22 years later the organisation has morphed and changed over that period, directly or indirectly due to both internal and external dynamics.
In June 2023, when I accepted the privilege to join this organisation, I knew then that to achieve a different result, bold changes were necessary. Having observed the entity from my previous role as executive director for economic development, and later as acting city manager, I thought the transition would be easier, but on arrival a different reality appeared. The past 2½ years since joining the MBDA have been a journey of change, adaption, improvement of systems, policies, controls, and inculcating a culture of accountability and high performance.
The setback we received in 2023/2024 when the entity achieved a qualified audit emanated from control deficiencies in the prior year, 2022/2023, and were picked up in the 2023/2024 audit. The task of turning around a qualification outcome required a robust audit action improvement plan and the resolve to take tough decisions. Annually, the auditor-general paints a gloomy picture of serial noncompliance with procurement processes that go unresolved and unaccounted for.
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More recently, as a first in SA, a court judgment opened the gates to municipalities and entities to go after officials for gross financial misconduct and acts related to irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, by attaching assets to recover funds. This is a warning to accounting officers that should you not take action, one will be taken against you.
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