Free State municipal audit outcomes show that 5 municipalities could not be audited in time due to late submission of annual financial statements, or threats to AG staff at three municipalities. A further 3 municipalities, and one municipal entity, received a disclaimer opinion which is the worst possible opinion indicating that the AG could verify nothing in the annual financial statements. No municipality received a clean audit.

Most disturbing is the fact that the Free State’s three biggest municipalities, with a combined budget of R18, 2 billion, and home to 46% of the provincial population, are some of the worst run. They are Maluti-a-Phofung, Matjhabeng and Metsimaholo.

Despite being under various National and Provincial interventions since January 2020, the Mangaung Metro, home to a population of 811 431 people, is still in a chaotic situation, which the AG ascribes to political instability and resistance to the interventions from council.

The Auditor-General Report on Free State municipalities in the 2022-2023 financial year, bears witness to the fact that the  provincial government has neither the capacity nor the resources to properly monitor and support  municipalities. The previous year’s AG report on the Department stated that it is failing in its mandate to support and monitor municipalities.

The 2024 budget allocation to the department in the Local Governance programme is a measly R110 million, while the MEC Makume a year ago confessed that the department is unable to save  failed municipalities due to capacity challenges. While the department may not allocate funds to municipalities, it must vastly improve on its monitoring and support.