South African auditor Maluleke: municipalities can be pulled out of crisis
South Africa’s Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke said at The Gathering event that the country’s municipalities can be pulled out of crisis provided competent people are appointed to administrative and political positions and residents continuously participate in overseeing the work of councils. This was reported by Daily Maverick.
According to Maluleke, citizens should not only take part in elections but also monitor the performance of their councils and use available information. She stressed that municipal problems are not limited to administrative issues: the council speaker and mayor also bear responsibility, as they must ensure that systems function, that there are consequences for violations, and that residents’ needs are addressed.
Audits and procurement
Maluleke noted that none of South Africa’s eight metropolitan municipalities has received a clean audit opinion. Cape Town and eThekwini submitted reliable financial statements. Johannesburg, she said, corrected inaccuracies with assistance and also submitted reliable consolidated financial statements.
At the same time, only two metropolitan municipalities prepared reliable performance reports. Compliance with requirements, including in procurement, remains a problem in all metropolitan municipalities, the auditor said. In her view, recurring adverse audit opinions indicate that institutions are not led by people who adhere to the rule of law.
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Maluleke also said that insufficient attention is paid to developing institutional capacity. According to her, outsourcing even basic functions is sometimes a political choice, but it raises questions about municipal governance and institutions’ ability to provide services to residents.
The role of coalitions and officials
Songeso Zibi, chair of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, said that the quality of politicians on municipal councils directly affects their work. He cited the example of Ekurhuleni, where traffic fines worth 2.7 billion rand were written off, as well as Tshwane, where about 1 billion rand was written off. According to him, heads of traffic departments could not explain to the committee why the fines had not been collected.
Maluleke said that coalition governance since 2016 has led to disruptions in the work of most councils due to unstable administrations. After the local elections on November 4, she said, it will be important to monitor how each party in coalition councils fulfils its role.
