Senior managers must be named and shamed

With the country’s Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke painting a gloomy picture for South African municipalities, the NFP is calling for senior managers to be named and shamed.

NFP Secretary General Canaan Mdletshe said only 38 of 257 municipalities achieved clean audits in the 2021/2022 local government audit – a consequence of skills shortages, poor accountability, and poor leadership.

ALSO READ: Second consecutive clean audit for KZN Legislature

“While this number was less than the 41 clean audits of the previous year, there were fewer municipalities that received disclaimer outcomes.

“Maluleke revealed that municipalities racked up R4.74 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, R25.47 billion in unauthorised expenditure, and the R1.6 billion spent on consultants had proven ineffective,” Mdletshe said.

“These figures are shocking and terrifying.

“They demonstrate that municipalities are collapsing right before us.

“Things should not be allowed to continue like this.

“Drastic measures must be put in place and action taken soon.

“By exposing the senior managers, we would be exposing corruption, fraud, financial mismanagement, irregular expenditures, and lack of leadership and skills.

“We want managers to be publicised because we believe the same managers who have been failing in municipalities are being moved around instead of being fired,” he concluded.

HAVE YOUR SAY