The MEC of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) in the Free State, Mxolisi Dukwana, will tomorrow hold a meeting with the auditor-general (AG), following damning findings by the office on the province’s municipalities.
The AG this week found that municipalities in the province have continued their wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money with irregular expenditure increasing by almost R2-billion. The irregular expenditure increased from R7.63-billion to R9.18-billion.
Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke laid the blame for the rot on public accounts committees that do not perform timeous investigations. The AG further found that Free State wasted R254-million of taxpayers’ money on consultants to improve financial outcomes.
Municipalities such as Maluti-A-Phofung, Masilonyana and Tokologo failed to trace the trail of money spent by the municipalities.
Dukwana’s spokesperson Sello Dithebe said the department will take necessary action to ensure all recommended steps in the audit findings are implemented forthwith, “without fear, favour or prejudice”.
“In particular, the seven Free State municipalities that did not submit their financial statements, as well as an over-reliance on consultants to carry out constitutional and legal obligations by municipalities overall, will be followed through with practical and pragmatic plans to correct this untenable and reprehensible situation, and ensure consequence management.
“MEC Dukwana is of the firm view that there is no place for criminality in our municipalities but effective, efficient and sustainable service delivery and social and economic development in our urban and rural settlements that foster an enhanced quality of life for all.”
Dukwana held a meeting on Friday with the head of department and senior management, to map a way forward for the municipalities in the province.
He will hold a meeting tomorrow with the office of the AG “to deeply reflect on the office of the auditor-general’s audit findings and map the way forward”.
The national picture also points to a deterioration in audit outcomes. The AG found that only 61 out of the 257 municipalities in the 2020/21 audit report have better outcomes than in the 2016/17 audit report, while 56 of them have worse outcomes.
More worrying is that only 16% of the country’s municipalities received clean audits – that’s 41 out of 257 municipalities.
The AG’s data comes just days after Ratings Afrika warned that the local government sector might completely collapse.
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