Local government instability a serious challenge for Auditor-General's office, says Maluleke

CAPE TOWN - Auditor General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke says local government instability remains a real challenge for the institution.

She said the frequent chopping and changing of leadership has had an adverse effect on the performance of municipalities with financial maladministration a continuous problem.

Maluleke was briefing the Standing Committee on the Auditor General (SCOAG) on her office's strategic plan, budget and "audit directives" on Friday.

Maluleke told the committee that on a general level, public entities like departments and councils were moving in the right direction.

She made an example of how one municipality moved from a disclaimer to a qualified audit.

“That’s a move in the right direction. It’s still far from where they should be, but it is a move in the right direction.”

But challenges still remain especially in the local sphere of government, where leadership changes hands often, sometimes more than once in a single financial year.

Maluleke said this was a cause for concern.

“We take note of the instability, particularly at local government level. But what we see is that leadership and instability continue to be a challenge.”

On her office’s finances, Maluleke said the non-payment of audit fees remained a challenge, but said this was a “discipline” problem more than an issue of affordability.