Media Release: Chairperson appointed to the GRDM APAC

For Immediate Release
22 June 2022

Today, during an Ordinary Council meeting, the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Council approved the proposed appointment of Alewijn Dippenaar as the new Chairperson of the Audit and Performance Audit Committee (APAC). The previous Chairperson, Dr Adele Potgieter’s role came to an end on 30 March 2022 after she formed part of APAC since 1 November 2012.

Dippenaar has a special interest in auditing, performance management, and relevant fields of legislation and training. He has in the past served as an APAC member for Swartland Municipality for 10 years, 6 years for Mossel Bay, George, Kannaland and for the GRDM years ago. He is also currently the Chairperson of Oudtshoorn and Prins Albert Municipalities’ APAC. These are only some of the leadership and other key roles he has fulfilled to date in the Local Government sphere.

Council also today resolved to appoint Christo Lamprecht as a member of APAC for a period of three years. Lamprecht is a registered Chartered Accountant (SA) and has vast experience in internal audit and accounting fields. He also served as APAC Member, APAC delegate to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and Risk Management Committee (RMC) Chairperson at George Municipality for the period 2018 – 2021.

Council also requested the administration to re-advertise for a 5^th member in the APAC to ensure there is a fair balance between race and gender on the Committee.

According to Pamela Lufele, GRDM Chief Audit Executive: “In accordance to Section 166 of the MFMA relating to the constitution of Audit Committees as well as the execution of their duties, it is integral that the Committee possess different skill sets in order to efficiently and effectively perform their function. I am proud to state that the formation of GRDM’s APAC has skills relating to Performance Management, Risk Management, IDP, Policy formulation, Finance, Internal Audit and Legal to name a few. This provides the end-user departments confidence that the oversight provided by the committee will be of value and enhance the processes of GRDM and bring the successes of the municipality to even greater heights.”

The full list of the four (4) current APAC members include the following:

Alewijn Dippenaar (Chairperson), Suren Maharaj (member), Lindiwe Mtunzi (member) and Christo Lamprecht (member).

Section 166(4)(a) of the Municipal Finance Management Act states: “An audit committee must consist of at least three persons with appropriate experience, of whom the majority may not be in the employ of the municipality or municipal entity”.

The GRDM APAC Charter requires its members to collectively possess the following skills and experience to efficiently fulfil their duties:

• Private and public sector experience;
• An understanding of service delivery priorities;
• Good governance and/or financial management experience;
• An understanding of the role of GRDM’s council and councillors;
• Familiarity with risk management practices;
• An understanding of internal controls;
• An understanding of major accounting practices and frameworks (ISO 9001) and public sector reporting requirements;
• Familiarity with legislation applicable to municipalities;
• And understanding of the roles and responsibilities of internal and external auditors;
• An understanding of the treatment of allegations and investigations;
• An understanding of the performance management system; and
• At least one member must have expertise in performance management.

Feature image: The GRDM Council approved two appointments today, that of the Chairperson and a new member to APAC.

ENDS