This is according to the Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu. Presenting the local government audit outcomes for the 2018/19 financial year before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Deputy Auditor-General Tsakane Ratsela said the financial health of the province has deteriorated over the years, with more than 80% of municipalities in the province now in a dire financial state.

Ratsela further painted a bleak picture when she told the House that municipalities in the province have not only recorded high irregular expenditure, exceeding a billion rand, but that poor financial control was also impacting the entire country negatively - as some owe water boards billions in addition to their shocking Eskom debts.

Municipalities in the province are ranked among the worst Eskom defaulters, with the cash-strapped Maluti-A-Phofung alone owing the power utility more than R4.5 billion.

Out of 23 municipalities in the province, eight audits were not completed by the cut-off date due to either the late or non-submission of financial statements.

Ratsela said only three municipalities in the province were able to provide credible financial information at the end of the audit.

None of the municipalities in this province, alongside the North West, received a clean audit.

Only 20 of the country's 257 municipalities have been able to attain a clean audit.

Of the 20 clean audits, 13 were in the Western Cape, two in Mpumalanga, one in Gauteng, one in Limpopo, one in KwaZulu-Natal, one in the Eastern and one in the Northern Cape.

OFM News