The university has made a decision not to renew its contract with auditing firm KPMG at the end of the 2017 financial year.
The decision was made at a meeting with the university’s council on Friday, September 29.
Members of the council audit and council risk audit committees met with the current CEO of KPMG South Africa, Nhlamulo Dlomu and international representatives from the firm a few weeks ago and deliberated on presentations which were made by KPMG.
The university has acknowledged that KPMG has taken steps to ease the reputational damage it suffered because of its relationship with companies connected to the Gupta family. However, it says, these steps are not enough.
In a statement released this morning, Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib says, “It is hard to reconcile KPMG’s conclusion that no one did anything illegal, when senior individuals have been dismissed and the South African Revenue Services (SARS) report has been retracted. In these circumstances, the council believes that it would have been prudent to acknowledge the ethical and legal lapses of KPMG’s senior management team.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers will remain the external auditors of the University.
[LISTEN]: Wits Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib says KPMG did not do enough for Wits to renew their contract.