She says it is unbelievable that no municipality in the province received a clean audit and she says this is disappointing. During her State of the Province Address (Sopa) on Tuesday 2 July 2019, Ntombela lamented the performance of these municipalities and says their performance is below the expectations of communities. OFM News previously reported that Makwetu said municipalities in this province had incurred a total of R675 million in irregular expenditure during the 2016/17 fiscal year alone.

Ntombela says local government is too important to rebuild effective and capacitated municipalities to see it failing. She further outlined that municipalities throughout the province are being assisted with the implementation of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act.

"We are worried about the functionality of some Municipal Planning Tribunals.” She says her provincial government will ensure that municipalities appoint qualified people to serve on these Tribunals to ensure that they promote spatial integration.

Meanwhile, in his report, Makwetu said he noted that a significant number of municipalities in the FS were amongst those that submitted their financial statements late, had a total breakdown of financial controls, showed poor leadership response to issues faced by the municipalities, and are characterised by a lack of capacity and instability.

Mangaung Metro is one of nine municipalities in the Free State that failed to submit financial statements in time for inclusion in the Auditor General’s 2017/18 municipal audit report. Makwetu's said Free State municipalities are more than R7.8 billion indebted to Eskom, which is considered the highest amount if compared to municipalities in other provinces.

OFM News