Johannesburg - Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane on Monday welcomed the Auditor-General's clean audit opinion for the department and three of its entities for the 2016/17 financial year.
This comes after Zwane met with the Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu about the department's performance in the previous financial year.
Zwane said the office of the Auditor-General acknowledged his department's improvement from a qualified audit opinion in 2012/13 to a clean audit in 2016/17 -- with no incidents of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
He said the Department of Mineral (DMR) resources spent 99.5 percent of the budget allocated for the 2016/17 financial year.
"The outcome of this report is a reflection of the hard work and concerted efforts by the DMR officials and those in its entities," Zwane said.
"We will continue to do the necessary work, in line with the Public Finance Management Act, to ensure that the department and entities in its portfolio use our limited budget allocation efficiently and effectively, to deliver on our mandate to the people of South Africa."
Zwane said the department further paid its suppliers within 12 days on average.