Okahandja loses N$600 000 to theft

OKAHANDJA municipality lost about N$600 000 to theft during the 2018 financial year, auditor general Junias Kandjeke found.

The municipality has also been charging all services utilised by its residents in 2018 on a 2015/16 financial record.

These findings are contained in the auditor general’s latest report on Okahandja’s financial statements for the 2017/18 financial year submitted to the National Assembly last month.

In the report, Kandjeke stated that the municipality lost close to N$600 000 due to short banking.

No explanation was given for this loss by the municipality.

Okahandja municipality has been receiving negative audit opinions from external auditors for the past few years due to poor financial management and record keeping.

These negative opinions have been mostly attributed to the municipality’s inability to provide records and other supporting documents to amounts stated on its financial statements for audit purposes.

In this regard, the municipality failed to submit supporting documents to substantiate VAT claims of N$13,4 million and other claims (Natis) of N$3,7 million.

The municipality also understated its revenue because it was “still working on a 2003 valuation roll”, Kandjeke stated.

The auditors also noted that the municipality’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by over N$12 million.

“As stated, these events or conditions, along with other matters such as the increase in borrowing (bank overdraft) increased by negative N$3,8 million which indicates that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the municipality’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Kandjeke states.

Apart from these discrepancies, auditors also flagged other issues such as the unexplained adjustments to the appropriation account amounting to N$49 million, and that bank reconciliations were not properly performed during the year under review, “thus the reliability of the cash flow could not be substantiated”.