September 1, 2005
By Thomas Thale
WHEN Roland Hunter was assigned to overhaul the revenue department in mid-2004, the City turned to Mankodi Moitse to fill his shoes as the executive director of finance, strategy and economic development.
With her strong background in accounting, her well-developed work ethic and her no compromise sense of probity, the highly religious Moitse looked the part.
She holds a Masters degree in business leadership and has qualifications in software programming and hardware engineering. She also has a wealth of work experience, having held positions in the private sector, in education and in the provincial government.
However, now Moitse devotes her energy to ensuring the City spends its budget prudently, increases its revenue collection, accounts for its finances and assets, leverages its resources through properly planned borrowings and actively promotes economic growth.
An average working day for Moitse begins at 7am; she only gets back home - in Edenvale - well after 8pm.
The directors of revenue; financial accounting; treasury; budget and financial planning; procurement and the economic development unit; and tourism and marketing report directly to her. "The team I have is made up of people who are serious specialists in their own right."
Moitse describes her position as one "that forces you to deal with strategy as well as operations". It has also provided her with a unique vantage point from which to appreciate the complexities of running the City. "It puts you in a position where you have a 360-degree view of the City. It gives you insight like no other position."
The Diepkloof-born Moitse, who was the director of the budget office and financial planning before taking on her new responsibilities, accounts for the City's R13-billion worth of assets and oversees its budget, which is R18-billion in the current financial year. The City's turnover amounted to about R11-billion in the last financial year.
Under her stewardship over the past year, the department has pioneered the issuing of municipal bonds; submitted consolidated group financial statements that complied with the Generally Accepted Municipal Accounting Practices for the first time; launched various programmes to stimulate the growth of designated economic sectors; developed a database of BEE companies; and increased its collection levels from the 89 percent averaged last year to the current levels of 92 percent to 95 percent.
Her responsibilities go beyond those of a traditional finance post. "We don't just look at the financial accounting side such as the payment cycle. The size of the City necessitates a different approach, which incorporates elements such as revenue and treasury."
It is also up to her to ensure that the City complies with the onerous requirements of the Municipal Financial Management Act.
For instance, the City has transformed its procurement procedures to ensure that procurement is fair, transparent and cost effective. "We have set up a procurement committee headed by the city manager to handle tenders that are R5-million or more in value.
"Tenders for less than R5-million are adjudicated by the committee chaired by the executive director of finance," she explains.
But things have not always been easy for Moitse in her demanding position. She has had to tackle problems raised by the auditor-general, to ensure that the City's march towards a clean audit report continues apace.
Towards a clean audit report
By far the primary challenge facing Moitse is to steer the City towards a clean audit report from the auditor-general.
Last year the auditor-general once again issued a disclaimer, citing the incomplete asset register, the City's inability to confirm the completeness of its revenue, the need to separate the regional services council levy from interest and a lack of proper documentation.
The auditor-general also noted a discrepancy between the City's billing system and the Municipal Valuation Roll.
Moitse says the City has made strides in dealing with these concerns, but much remains to be done.
One of the more intractable problems to resolve is compiling a complete register of City assets. When it was reconstituted in 2000, the new City of Johannesburg inherited fragmented systems, along with incomplete, and in some cases no, information on property owned by the five previous Metropolitan Local Councils.
The City had to start from scratch to compile a comprehensive database of all its assets, and the Johannesburg Property Company has made tremendous progress setting up a register of council-owned properties.
A special unit, based in the corporate finance department, was set up to trace and record the City's movable assets. This unit, adds Moitse, has made tremendous progress in compiling a database of City assets.
"This is the most consistent and comprehensive effort to account for City assets. In the last two years, they really gave it their best. Now every office in council has an asset list. The person inside the office takes responsibility for what is in the office. All of the office equipment is tagged and has a barcode. It can always be traced."
Other challenges the unit has had to contend with, says Moitse, relate to the lack of documentation for properties, such as hostels, that are occupied without leases being signed.
She considers the asset register to be one of the two main challenges of her tenure. "In the bigger scheme of things, the completeness of revenue and the asset register are the two biggest challenges we face."
The compiling of a land register is also progressing well, Moitse says, adding that she expects a complete register to be in place by the end of this financial year.
"We want to complete it before the auditor-general comes. We have people dedicated to that function. My diary prioritises them."
The City is also striving to ensure that its documentation is completed and submitted on time. "Some of the documents are simple things really. When a staff member goes on leave, a form has to be filled in and signed."
Moitse ascribes the problem of the completeness of revenue to the lack of a single property value chain. Overall, however, she is confident that her department is on track. "I think we've made a lot of progress. We have had to overcome challenges that date back years.
"We now have a central office responsible for forecasting income, driving the process of tariff determination and setting up criteria on the allocation of budget."
Revenue collection
Moitse has serious concerns about the City's debt book. This debt, she explains, has continued to increase, distorting the City's financial outlook. "Debt ages every month. In revenue, we will continue trying to capture debt while it is still fresh. It is more difficult to collect debt if it ages."
She is satisfied, though, that the City's credit control policy has started to yield results, ascribing this to better collection inventions.
Career path
Moitse's first job, in 1987, was a teacher at Namedi High School in Soweto. After a year she moved to Anglo American, where she was engaged as a property accountant for three years. In 1991 she took up a position as a systems accountant for Portland Cement.
After getting married, she went to lecture at the Marapyane College.
By 1996 Moitse was back in Joburg with her husband to advance her financial career, working first as a finance manager at Reckitt, Bencia. She was later appointed group accountant at Novatis.
In 1998 she joined the Gauteng provincial government as director accountant-general; she joined the City in 2000 as director of the budget office and financial planning.
Moitse says that in her experience, it has been easy to apply private sector norms to the public sector. "In terms of financial controls, the gap between local and private sector is narrow."
She is confident that the City is poised for a major economic growth. "The business world has begun to appreciate Joburg as an important player. We engage with bodies such as the JCCI [Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry] and partner with academic institutions like Wits. We are keen to stimulate our economy at different levels."
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