Johannesburg - Gauteng provincial treasury's finances were in order, and the department was leading by example in public financial management.
These were the words of Finance MEC Barbara Creecy on Friday as she announced that the Gauteng Provincial Treasury had obtained a clean audit outcome for the fifth consecutive year.
Creecy said the clean audit outcome showed that her department continued to lead by example in championing effective management of public resources.
"The leadership role of Treasury in financial management was further demonstrated by the work it did in the past year which resulted in 2 departments and entities achieving clean audits," Creecy said.
"This means that seven departments and thirteen entities who achieved clean audits in 2015/16 financial year sustained these outcomes in 2016/17,” she asserted."
Creecy was tabling the department’s 2016/17 annual report to the Provincial Legislature.
She said the provincial government spent R104.4 billion, or 99 percent of the total budget, for the 2016/17 financial year.
"Total infrastructure expenditure amounted to R12.4 billion or 97 percent of that budget; and R18.5 billion or 98 percent of the Conditional Grants budget was spent in the same period," Creecy said.
"Our challenge going forward is to maintain the clean audits while working closely with other departments and entities to improve their outcomes so that they could also move to the clean category."
Creecy also said her department had made significant strides in the programme to revitalise local economies and create jobs by increasing expenditure from township suppliers to 23 percent of the procurement budget in the year under review.
The department's Central Supplier Database boasted a total of 7,614 suppliers by the end of the financial year.
Creecy said the department continued to accelerate implementation of the Open Tender process in all departments in order to promote clean governance, and fight fraud and corruption.