PanSALB CELEBRATES A THIRD SUCCESSIVE UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION FOR AGSA

The Pan South African Language Board today welcomed its third successive unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General South Africa. Speaking from Pretoria, the Acting CEO of PanSALB, Mr Chris Swepu, thanked the Board for its support and his staff for their patience during trying times. Swepu added “the cooperation between management and the Board has made this turnaround possible. Our staff members have endured throughout our tough approach to compliance. For this we wish to thank them as well.”

The three successive clean audits signal a huge turnaround from the disclaimer of audit opinion the organisation received three years ago. PanSALB is hoping that its performance, as alluded to by the AGSA report, will lead to better funding in the new financial year. “Our country needs a financial model that recognises good corporate governance. The President of the republic has on numerous occasion called on public institutions to clean up their act and work towards clean audit reports; we have done just that and are determined to continue to excel and execute our mandate to the best of our ability,” Swepu added.

However, like many critical state organs, PanSALB continues to have a serious challenge with underfunding and this prompted a request in writing to President Jacob Zuma for urgent intervention. The request for extra funding was in line with the Acting CEO’s mission to “build a model institution that would be a point of reference whenever South Africans think of good governance”.

Swepu thanked the Chairperson of the Board, Dr Elias Malete, for his calm and conciliatory approach to the business of the organisation. “Without a good working relationship between Chairpersons and CEOs of institutions not much is achievable,” said Swepu.