CFO of Midvaal Zakhele Mhlongo is a master of clean audits. While his early accounting career was spent in the private sector, his passion for public service took over in 2004.
From early childhood, Zakhele Mhlongo, CFO of Midvaal municipality, had a great thirst for knowledge and enjoyed working with numbers. In his matric year at Glenwood High, he obtained distinctions in accounting and mathematics. This gave him the foundation he needed to pursue his studies in accounting.
“I studied for a national diploma in cost and management accounting with majors in financial accounting as well as cost and management accounting, plus business and corporate law at the then Technikon Natal, now known as Durban University of Technology. I furthered my studies and obtained a bachelor of commerce in accounting at the University of KwaZulu-Natal with majors in financial accounting, managerial accounting and finance, tax and tax planning, as well as auditing,” he says.
Zakhele also completed several studies in various institutions of higher learning, including an advanced diploma in public administration (finance) at the University of Western Cape, a postgraduate diploma in development finance at Stellenbosch University, and an MBA.
Zakhele’s early career commenced in the private sector, where he worked as a stock controller at Kynoch Feeds in 2001. In 2002, he moved to Sappi Tugela, where he worked as a cost analyst. It was only in 2004 when he joined public sector finance.
First leadership role
“I worked as a financial controller at KZN Wildlife in 2004 and was promoted to head office as management accountant in 2006. Between 2006 and 2013, I worked as a management accountant for three provincial public entities, namely KZN Wildlife, Umngeni Water and Tourism KwaZulu-Natal,” he shares.
His first CFO role came in 2013, when he was appointed as the chief financial officer for uMlalazi Local Municipality in his hometown of Eshowe, on the northern coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
“I worked for nine years, and in all the nine years I worked in the municipality, we obtained an unqualified audit opinion, which was a good indication of clean governance,” he says.
In 2022, Zakhele moved to the southern coast and briefly worked for the uMdoni Local Municipality before relocating to Gauteng to join Midvaal Local Municipality.
“I joined Midvaal in November 2022. The municipality was already known for clean governance, good service delivery and a string of clean audits, which is an indication of a strong leadership and ethical culture.”
Award-winning approach
As CFO of Midvaal, Zakhele assists the executive management and political leadership to maintain their clean audits and improve internal controls and financial systems.
“We have thus far successfully retained our clean audit status. In the last audit, we celebrated the 10th consecutive clean audit, and we are looking forward to an 11th clean audit outcome from the audit that is currently taking place in all the municipalities, the results of which are expected at the end of November,” he says.
In July this year, Midvaal bagged six awards from the SALGA Municipal Awards. These include the Overall Winner for the 2022/2023 Financial Year award, the An Unqualified Audit Opinion with No Findings award, the Most Improved Records and Document Management at 100 percent award, the Municipalities that can apply consequence management (financial misconduct) award, and the Municipalities that can pay Service Providers within 30 days at 100 percent title.
“We are grateful and humbled by the accolades we have recently received from SALGA in July this year and around the same time last year,” he says.
“We attribute our success to a strong and stable leadership under the tutelage of our executive mayor, Alderman Peter Teixeira, and his mayoral committee. On the administration wing, we have a competent and dedicated executive management team led by the municipal manager, Anton Groenewald, and his team, which consists of six department heads.”
Zakhele believes that Midvaal’s success can be attributed to the collaborative effort from leadership, all the way down to its residents.
Hope amid the challenges
“Weekly meetings of the executive leadership and management take place to ensure alignment of activities and to keep track of the flow of service delivery and governance issues,” he says. “Of course, it would not be possible to achieve what we have achieved without the hard work of Midvaal employees, from middle management down to the general worker level, as well as our residents, who strive to pay for services despite financial challenges emanating from the unfavourable economic climate in the country.”
Looking at the current state of the country and other municipalities, Zakhele is overwhelmed with sadness. However, he believes there is hope and a chance for other municipalities and their residents to overcome their challenges.
“The direct impact on the municipalities is the inability of residents and businesses to pay for services, which makes it difficult for municipalities and other entities to remain financially sustainable.
“Municipalities, communities, the private sector and other spheres of government need to work together to create opportunities for local economic development and employment for residents to be able to survive these hard economic times,” he concludes.
