The Eastern Cape Department of Education recently celebrated attaining an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA) for the 2024/25 financial year. This comes after years of qualified audits that marred the image of the Department, presenting it as a dysfunctional entity, unable to effectively utilize government resources.

The unqualified outcome symbolizes a significant milestone, affirming the collective effort and dedication of the Departments’ leadership and staff to strengthen financial controls, enhance compliance with legislative prescripts, and ensure efficient use of public resources, in pursuit of quality education.

Delivering the good news to the staff, Head of Department, Sharon Maasdorp, commended all officials for the hard work in maintaining good financial administration. She further indicated that the opinion is as a result of discipline, accountability, and belief in good governance. Of course, true to herself, she gave credit to the Lord for sustaining her and giving her the ability to perform beyond measure, acknowledging the support from Senior Management and staff.

The past year has seen several measures put in place to achieve this success, such as:

-Strengthening internal controls and oversight

-Regular Monitoring and evaluation of compliance processes

-Ensuring that resources are directed towards key educational priorities such as, infrastructure, scholar transport, and learner and teacher support material.

MEC, Fundule Gade, expressed pride in this achievement, noting that indeed it signifies good governance in the Department.

The unqualified audit opinion serves as both recognition of progress made. The Department remains committed to building on this success to achieve a clean audit in the future, ensuring that every rand spent advances the transformation agenda of government by providing quality education.