By Municipalities are at the centre of communities and a drive for economic growth and service delivery. The Auditor General Ms Tsakani Maluleke said though there is improvement in Free State municipalities, more still needs to be done.
The Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and Human Settlements Mr Saki Mokoena expressed concern over the state of most municipalities in the Free State following the gloomy report by the AG on the state of Local Municipalities in August 2024.
Reflecting on the report during a media briefing on 3 September 2024, at the OR Tambo Building in Bloemfontein; MEC Mokoena said the report came at a time when provincial government is committed to working tirelessly in supporting municipalities in the province to be able to deliver services to local people.
MEC Saki Mokoena pointed out that the report showed that municipalities are still not prioritising financial controls daily; and the quality of financial reports remains poor as 90% of municipalities have had to make material corrections to their financial statements to address errors that were identified during the audit.
“We are particularly concerned that 75% of municipalities continue to rely on consultants, they have to prepare or review their statements. The report also indicates that most municipalities remain financially distressed and they require intervention and the fact that we have about 13 municipalities that indicated that they will not be able to meet their financial obligations when they become due,” said the MEC.
The MEC further noted some of the disheartening ills in municipalities including the approval of non-funded budgets by Councils which also contribute to high annual unauthorised expenditure, the rate of non-compliance with some legislations; he also noted the R433 million loss due to irregularities in municipalities.
Mokoena expressed concern over Mohokare Local Municipality and pointed out its instability due to its conflicts at senior management level.
According to Saki Mokoena, only three municipalities in the Free State provinces managed to submit their statements for auditing that did not require corrections. He further noted the report that it commended Matjhabeng Municipality for submitting its first ever credible report in 2022/23 after following the AG’s remedial recommendations.
Mokoena outlined how his department will intervene in assisting municipalities to improve on their performance; he said firstly, they will prioritise stability at a political and administrative level; the provincial government will be strict in terms of the recruitment process in filling of administrative posts.
They will support municipalities to achieve clean audits; this will go hand in clove with the monitoring of internal systems to ensure that financial statements are submitted timeously. Ensuring that municipalities adhere to remedial actions issued by the AG previously.
MEC Saki Mokoena said they are also looking into filling vacant posts with competent people who will be effective in running municipalities from the word go. Projects will be strictly monitored so that should any challenge arise, intervention can be triggered timeously.
