But why has full audit report not been revealed to public?
President Jacob Zuma must make the full Treasury report on the audit outcomes of municipalities public before local government elections next week, DA leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday.
This would allow voters to go the polls fully informed, she said in a statement.
“I am issuing a personal challenge to President Zuma: make the full report public before South Africa goes to the polls next Wednesday. Give every voter the opportunity to make a fully informed decision before they cast their ballot.”
Zille’s call came after a Beeld report that Cabinet had refused to release the report. According to the newspaper, the report details how:
- 46 municipalities have not issued audit reports,
- 70 percent of financial information from municipalities is unusable,
- 48% of financial information submitted by municipalities is not trustworthy and
- almost 25% of municipalities can’t produce the necessary supporting documentation.
“The report paints a damning picture of the state of municipal finances across the country and explains why ANC-run municipalities have failed to deliver a better life for all,” said Zille.
“The people have a right to know how the governing party in their municipality has performed before they vote.”
She called the refusal to release the report a “cover-up” and said Zuma should make the document available to the public without delay.
MPUMALANGA MEC PRAISES 3 TEAMS
Three municipalities in Mpumalanga that received clean audits for the 2009/2010 financial year were congratulated by the provincial MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs on Wednesday.
“The good performance by our municipalities indicates that the province is on course to meeting the target of operation clean audit 2014,” MEC Madala Masuku said in a statement. “Such good performance can be attributed to paying special attention to good financial management practices and addressing challenges raised by the Auditor General in previous financial statements,” he said.
According to the department, the Victor Khanye and Steve Tshwete local municipalities, and Ehlanzeni district municipality, were three of seven that obtained clean audits.
The department would soon roll out a programme to support municipalities that had received disclaimers and qualified reports.
GAUTENG REPORT
Eleven of the 15 municipalities in Gauteng received clean audits in the 2009/10 financial year, but that of the largest, Johannesburg, was still outstanding, premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Tuesday.
“Operation Clean Audit has resulted in 11 out of 15 municipalities receiving clean audits,” she said in Johannesburg on the release of a performance review of Gauteng’s local government from 2006 to 2011.
The municipalities which received qualified audits for 2009/10 were Kungwini, Mogale City and Emfuleni.
Mokonyane said there was “nothing personal, nothing untoward” in the delay in finalising the City of Johannesburg’s audit. It was a result of “to-ing and fro-ing” between the Auditor General’s office and the city.
Gauteng local municipalities significantly underspent on capital expenditure over the period. The capital expenditure budget was R5.7 billion, of which R2.3bn, or 40%, was spent.
“The expenditure rate analysis shows that local municipalities experienced challenges in spending their budgets,” the report noted. This was attributed to capacity constraints, non-compliance with supply chain management processes and late receipt of grants and subsidies.
The report acknowledged that there was a shortage of skills.
“It was established that municipalities did not have adequate staff, especially in critical areas like planning, engineering, and finance. This affected their ability to plan for service delivery as well as to manage their finance.”
Mokonyane said municipalities were, however, able to retain 66 percent of professionals over the period.
The largest source of revenue for municipalities in the past five years had been charges for municipal services, such as water and electricity.
“Revenue collection still remains a problem due to non-payment of services by some consumers,” said Mokonyane.
She said a comparison between a 2005 and 2007 survey on local government satisfaction showed that 31% of Gauteng residents felt there was improvement in government performance in 2007.
According to the report satisfaction among businesses and citizens in local government performance in Gauteng rated between 40 to 50%.
“In all, businesses’ and citizens’ satisfaction with the performance of local government varies between 40% to 50 percent.”
The findings were based on an analysis of satisfaction surveys conducted in Gauteng between 2006 and 2011.
“Citizens’ satisfaction with municipalities’ ability to provide good quality of life ranges between 50% and 60%.”
According to the report 98% of formal businesses had access to basic services, as did 50 to 70% of informal businesses.
“The findings indicate general satisfaction and confidence in local government service delivery and performance.” This meant municipalities were “performing satisfactorily”.
The report did admit to “challenges” in local government, namely crime, unemployment, HIV/Aids and economic development.
Mokonyane said she was satisfied with the local government’s delivery over the five years.
“I, Nomvula Mokonyane, declare that I am quite satisfied with the work that our municipalities have done given the resources at their disposal, the capacity that they had and the expectations and demands of our people. Had we had resources beyond what we had, we could have done more.”
She said the government had “consciously decided to release the report a few days before elections” on May 18.
She said people could choose to see it as “electioneering” or ”be objective” and see the progress being made by the Gauteng government. “Taxpayers can see exactly what’s been done with their finances,” she said.