ANC welcomes improvements in municipal audit outcomes

2 June 2016

The African National Congress welcomes the release of the Audit outcomes for Local Government for the 2014/15 financial year. The results show encouraging and much welcomed improvement particularly with the number of clean audits increasing from 13 to 54 or 72 if read together with the number of municipal entities which also received clean audits - a remarkable achievement demonstrating continuing success of the Back to Basics programme. The reduction of the percentage of municipalities with adverse or disclaimed opinions from more than 30% to about 11% is a commendable feat.

In 2014, the ANC led government committed itself to an urgent action plan to strengthen local government by getting the basics right. This included a focus on putting people first, delivering basic services, good governance, sound financial management and building capabilities. We committed to political stability and certainty in local government. As part of strengthening that sphere of government, we further committed to ensuring that key positions are filled by competent and qualified people and providing decisive leadership to deal with deviant behaviour and transgressions. The results announced by the Auditor General indeed indicate the positive  turnaround that delivery on our commitments are yielding.

The African National Congress commends the Eastern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces for their marked improvements. We further congratulate the 3 best performing provinces. May these outcomes serve as inspiration for them to do even more to realise an effective, efficient local government administration. National and provincial government must continue to provide support to those provinces and municipalities that have been deemed as requiring greater attention by the Auditor General.

Issued by Zizi Kodwa, National Spokesperson, ANC, 2 June 2016