AG concerned that metros not improving in their audit outcomes

CAPE TOWN - The auditor-general has delivered another grim overview of the financial performance of municipalities for the 2023/24 financial year, with the City of Cape Town the only metro to produce a clean audit.

Tsakani Maluleke told Parliament's cooperative governance committee on Wednesday afternoon that municipalities in the Free State also continued to be problematic, with none of them able to produce sound financial statements.

Maluleke said it was concerning that metros, particularly in the country’s economic hub of Gauteng, were not improving in their audit outcomes.

The auditor-general said that she was starting to sound like a stuck record, with only gradual improvements to report about the year under review.

Maluleke said that all the blame could not be placed on financial officers and the council administration for the quality of financial statements and for delivering credible documents on time.

"The role of the mayor and the speaker are actually very important, and when mayors do their part, things run well, and when they fail to do their part, things do not run so well."

Maluleke said that the number of disclaimed audit opinions had come down from 28 to 14 since the start of this municipal administration in 2021, thanks to intervention from provincial leadership.

While the metros of eThekwini, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg received unqualified audit opinions, Tshwane has regressed to a qualified report.

"The City of Joburg didn't give us quality financial statements when we began our audit. It's the biggest in the country, the biggest on the continent, there should be no difficulty in ensuring you've got the skills and the capability to do what you are supposed to do, just on compiling financial statements."

Maluleke said that while some held the view that clean audits were merely a technical measure, overall, her auditors had found a correlation with better service delivery.