Auditor General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke has noted that while there are some green shoots, municipalities have made limited progress in improving audit outcomes.
The AG spoke on the 2024-2025 financial year audit outcomes for municipalities while tabling the general report for that year in Parliament.
“Over the past four years, mayors and councils of the 6th administration have made limited progress to strengthen governance and improve service delivery, as residents and businesses continue to experience unreliable service delivery, environmental hazards and deteriorating infrastructure.
“They further oversaw municipalities with deteriorating financial health,” Maluleke noted.
The outcomes indicate:
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Only 39 municipalities (15%) achieved clean audits
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Some 38 municipalities (15%) representing 24% of the total local government expenditure budget have regressed since 2020-21
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The audit outcomes and performance of the eight metros continue to decline, affecting the daily lives of millions of people
“Some positive shoots, notably, a substantial reduction in the number of municipalities with repeat disclaimed audit opinions, which are the lowest we have reported in years.
“There is a significant increase in unqualified audit opinions…to 61% in 2024-25, similar to a level last reached in the 2015-16 financial year.
“There is also a marked improvement in the timely submission of financial statements, which is at 98%, the highest level in our records,” Maluleke said.
She added that it is encouraging that municipalities and national and provincial governments are providing administrative functions while effective oversight by parliament and provincial legislatures is also garnering improvement.
“It is encouraging that municipalities, as well as national and provincial governments, paid attention to our messages over the years to collaborate with the aim of driving timely submission of financial and eradicating disclaimed audit opinions,” Maluleke noted.
Furthermore, the AG acknowledged efforts to improve governance.
“These commendable efforts need to be doubled and replicated with all accountability ecosystem role players steadfastly delivering on their respective mandates,” she said.
Recommendations
The Auditor General implored municipalities to meet legislative obligations, commit to open governance and pursue a more collaborative approach to administration. Some recommendations in this regard include:
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Professionalise and capacitate local government: Accounting officers, councils and provincial leadership must ensure compliant appointments and targeted skills development to professionalise municipal administration, retain scarce skills and position local government as a sustainable career of choice for skilled professionals.
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Instil a culture of ethics and accountability: A shared commitment to responsiveness, consequence management, accountability and ethical conduct is essential to ensure timely action and that individuals are held accountable for their actions, or inaction.
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Build capable institutions through coordinated intergovernmental support: Support from all spheres of government – through coordinated and collaborative efforts in partnership with municipal leadership – is needed to promote strong governance within municipalities.
With the Local Government Elections set to be held in November this year, Maluleke recommended the following:
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The induction process of the new council members by the South African Local Government Association, Department of Cooperative Governance and National Treasury should be of a high quality. Special attention should be paid to the capacitation of members of the mayoral committees for finance, particularly at metros.
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Stability in the administration should be maintained where it has performed relatively well and disruptions arising from changes in accounting officers and senior management should be minimised.
“We also call on civil society, business and citizens to continue to play their part in the local government accountability ecosystem.
“We remain committed to working with and supporting local government through our audits; using the insights from these our audits to illuminate understanding of the challenges at municipal, municipal entity and provincial government level; and advocate for action.
“We will continue to use our expanded powers to step in where the accountability ecosystem fails,” Maluleke concluded.
The full audit report can be found at https://www.agsa.co.za/reports/mfma-reports - SAnews.gov.za
