By The Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) Ms Tsakani Maluleke in her report on municipalities showed that there is some impressive progress in the Free State; however, there is still some work to be done in some municipalities.
The Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements, Mr Saki Mokoena will on Tuesday give an update on the state of municipalities in the province, addressing critical matters stemming from the AG’s recent report. He will also outline targeted interventions to be untaken by his department.
Though there is much improvement, according to the Auditor General’s report, the Free State still has some work to do. The AG Ms Tsakani Maluleke says since 2022, her office issued 25 Material Irregularities (MI) notification to accounting officers of municipalities for delaying the accountability process by submitting their financial statements late or not at all, 16 of the municipalities were in the Free State and one municipal entity.
The province, using tools from the AG was able to turnaround the culture of non-accountability to transparency by submitting financial statements on time. The Free State has made serious gains compared to the past administrations.
In 2020/21 financial year, the submission rate was at 48%, in 2021/22 it improved to 61% and 2022/23 it reached 83%.
“Moqhaka and Mafube local municipalities responded to the material irregularity notifications issued to their municipal managers by submitting their outstanding financial statements in February and March 2024, respectively. Although we received the separate financial statements for both Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality and its municipal entity (Maluti-a-Phofung Water) on time in 2022-23, their consolidated financial statements were not submitted on time,” said the AG Tsakani Maluleke in her report.
